Renditions of Consequence
by JaydeeGrey
Summary: Sequel to "Reclamation" – In the face of renewed tragedy, Zack, Cloud, and the others must now face the effects of the choices they've made as well as a past and possible future beyond their control.
1. Chapter 1

_Hi friends! This is the first chapter of the sequel to "Reclamation." If you are a new reader of my fics, you are certainly welcome to start reading this story right away but you may want to go back and start with "Dreams Incarnate" or "Reduced to Specimens." This fic is the newest installment of a series I have on the site that Begins with DI. The order is "Dreams Incarnate," "Reduced to Specimens," "Reclamation", and now "Renditions of Consequence." Though DI comes first chronologically, I did write RtS first and you don't need to read DI to know what's going on in this story, however you may want to be familiar with RtS and Reclamation so you don't feel lost in some of the chapters to come for this story. I hope all of you, old readers and new, enjoy this fic. I will try to update as frequently as I can but if you know my track record you know there can be some pretty long waits between chapters. I appreciate your patience with me and be sure to let me know what you think of the first chapter!  
_

 _-Jaydee_

~One~

 _Hojo and I have come to an arrangement._

Genesis's words echoed in Cloud's head over and over.

 _An arrangement…have come to an arrangement._

Even knowing where it had led, he still had a hard time accepting it in some ways.

 _You're turning me over to him?!_

It haunted him when he tried to sleep. Those final moments before his capture he'd pleaded.

 _Don't do this to me!_

Another voice, not unlike his own had something to say about it.

 _You did this._

Was it truth? Out of his own mouth, it must have been. That was the hardest thing to know.

 _I did this…Who am I?_

Who was he to find himself back in the place Zack had risked everything in the end to get him out of. Had almost given his life on the cliffs outside Midgar to save him from.

 _C4 C4 C4 C4…_

The lights in his cell came on suddenly, making him aware of the pounding headache he still had from the day before. It was rivaled by the pain in his guts. Pain or no pain, the moment those lights came on, he sprang into action, throwing the thick linen blanket off the bed and himself as he stood up, one end of a knotted bedsheet in his hand. The other end he'd tied to the one metal leg of the bed the night before. He knew he only had seconds to carry out his plan, tying the other end of the sheet to the handle of the only door in the room. He made a tight knot, pulling the sheet as tight as he could between the door and the bed that was bolted to the cement floor of his cell.

He was still holding the end of the sheet when the door was unlocked and an attempt was made to open it. For a minute it looked like his plan was going to work as the door was stopped from being pulled open by the taught knotted sheet attached to the bed holding it shut. He hadn't considered the material of the sheets though, hadn't thought about the fact that there might be any give in them, or that they would have been designed specifically to tear when a certain weight was applied, perhaps to keep someone from hanging themselves or keep them from being utilized in the way he was trying to use them.

Watching the sheet split like paper, he retreated to the bathroom nook, dropping himself to the floor between the toilet and the wall next to it. He'd barely been there ten seconds before he was being dragged back out. Strong hands gripped his legs and pulled him on his stomach while he tried to catch hold of anything stable that he could with his hands. He managed to curl his fingers around the doorframe separating the bathroom nook from the rest of the cell but the force of the pull on his legs found two of his fingernails bending back under the pressure and his hold slipping immediately.

Tile turned to metal under him when he was finally dragged out of the cell and into the only other room he'd seen besides the lab. The room was small, not much bigger than his 8x8 cell, and lined top to bottom, floor and ceiling, with stainless steel. There were no windows, only a light in the ceiling above and a grate in the center of the floor. The floor, though it felt flat and even, dipped toward the grate on all sides. He had discovered this by watching the way his blood had traveled toward the grate, on the few times he'd shed more than droplets.

He didn't look up at the two clones standing over him. He buried his face behind his arms as he covered it, gripping his own hair on the top of his head before he felt the first of many blunt impacts to his body. He started counting in his head. _One-one thousand. Two-one thousand. Three-one thousand…_ At the count of sixty it'd be over and he'd be returned to his cell just for him to wait for the process to repeat the next day. How long had it been? Eighteen days? Twenty? It was hard to know.

He'd had many expectations the first day he was back in Hojo's clutches. All of them centered on the types of torture he expected to endure. Mako, whippings, surgical procedures, starvation. None of his expectations had yet been met except one: that he would be tortured. It was the how that had been something of a shock.

After waking in the lab, he was initially confined to the exam table he'd woke up on. Hojo and his assistants had examined him thoroughly, taken samples and notes before he was tagged. Though he still had an incomplete memory of what he and Zack had endured their first time in Hojo's custody, he knew they'd never undergone a procedure like the tagging. A black band had been wrapped around his right forearm, midway between his wrist and his elbow. It seemed almost like a thick zip-tie that was tightened until it was pressing into his skin. It seemed like plastic, though he couldn't be sure what it was. All he knew was that when the tie was locked in place and the loose end snapped off, the band became hot like fire. It had felt like his skin was melting and for all he knew it was the truth as since then the band had been bonded to his arm, practically flush with his flesh. The skin around it had blistered and took a few days to heal. It had itched like crazy and continued to irritate him to the point where he didn't realize he was scratching at it until he made himself bleed.

After he'd been tagged he was sedated. He woke up in what had been his only living space the rest of the time he'd been there. It was technically inside the lab, built into the one wall, a floor to ceiling pane of thick glass for separation. The other three walls were concrete as far as he could tell. So was the floor. The only door led not out into the lab, at least not directly, but into that metal room. There was an access door in the metal room but he'd never seen beyond the closed door to what may be beyond it. In his cell he'd been given a bed. It was narrow and low to the floor but it was a bed with actual bedding. He was given clothing. Pants, a t-shirt and a sweat shirt, but no shoes. There was a panel at the bottom of the door where a tray of food and sometimes juice or milk would be slid in. The trays were always connected to a locked chain so they could be retrieved without his compliance.

Attached to the cell was the bathroom nook, different from the ones he and Zack had spent their time in previously because in this one he had a shower. It was a small tiled area of the nook with a shower head but no actual knobs or dials that could be used to access the water. He learned quickly enough that the water would come on automatically twice a day for about five minutes. Once at 7 am and once at 4 pm. There was a toilet and a small sink. The toilet was all once piece. No lid. It reminded him of what a prison toilet must be like. Nothing could be pried off it to be used as a weapon. It flushed automatically. The sink was also automatic. No knobs or dials that could be pried off. There was no windowed area in the nook, which meant no one could look in at him directly from the lab but there were cameras in all areas of his cell, which meant he was never in complete privacy. It weirded him out at first until he came to the conclusion it was stupid to care whether someone wanted to watch him take a dump in his cell. In normal circumstances he'd probably care.

The first day he woke up in the cell he'd been able to see and hear what went on in the lab. He could see through the glass in front of him and hear through a speaker system wired to the cell. It hadn't lasted long. It was only a few hours before a thick black curtain had been drawn over the glass and the speaker feed cut off, leaving him feeling isolated. In the one wall, close to the ceiling was a digital clock face that told him the time. He suspected it was there for a reason and it wasn't meant to be an amenity to him. He learned of the role it would play after the first few days.

Every day after the first day in his captivity was the same. At 6 am the lights would come on in his cell and the door at the back would open. Two clones, exactly like those who'd come after him in Midgar that one day at the apartment, would enter and without a word, drag him from wherever he was into that adjoining metal room where one of them would beat him senseless for a straight sixty seconds or for however long it took until he was knocked unconscious. On two of those days it had taken barely thirty seconds before one of their hits had him blacking out. One minute seemed like nothing normally but it seemed like hours while under their fists. If he fought back it took longer.

The first five days he'd tried to fight back. It had made no difference. After those first five days, he tried only to defend himself and keep from getting seriously injured. If he was knocked out he woke back in his cell after however long, his injuries treated. If he was still conscious he was left alone in the room until being treated by the doctor before being brought back into his cell and given the option of clean clothing to change into. He was able to clean himself of any blood he still had on him when the shower came on at 7, or later if he missed the first one. He knew what Hojo had been trying to accomplish with the daily beatings. He knew it was meant to condition him, to subdue him and make him compliant and accepting of his situation. To be grateful for the time when he wasn't being beaten.

He could tell himself to fight the response Hojo wanted, but as the regimen continued to the end of the second week and into the third he found himself beginning to break down. He spent every minute of the day in pain from the beatings. He longed for any other human contact. Longed to see past the curtained soundproof glass wall in his cell out to the lab at what Hojo and his assistants were doing. He wanted someone to talk to him. Every night at 9, right before the lights went out in the cell, the same voice-presumably from one of the assistants-asked him the same three questions, the voice coming at him from one of the speakers. _What is your name?_ The answer was _C4_. _Who do you belong to?_ The answer was _Shinra_. And _What is Shinra?_ The answer was _home_.

He figured, even from his earliest days in the cell, that the key to ending his daily beatings from the clones was to give the answers that were expected but every day he remained silent while he contemplated why his answering the questions was so important. He didn't want to give in but the punishment he was being given daily was really getting to him. He spent every night unable to sleep, dreading the clock turning 6 in the morning. By the time the door to the back room opened, he was trembling in the anxiety he wished he didn't feel. He managed to hold back from crying and begging, which is what he really wanted to do when one of the clones began driving his fists into him. He felt close to insane with loneliness in the hours while he was left in his cell. The only sounds were made by him and the air vent near the ceiling and there was nothing to look at that he hadn't looked at a hundred million times by the twenty-first day of his confinement.

He had held out for close to a month, but all he wanted was to submit. He knew he was stronger than that. He believed he was. He and Zack had fought endlessly when they'd been held together. Albeit it was easier to do when there was someone to fight with, but he couldn't do it now. He wasn't sleeping. He couldn't keep food down. He was desperate. He made the decision on the twenty-first night that he would finally give the answers to the questions he would be asked before lights out. All day he thought about it, willing time to pass faster so he'd have the chance to end the torture he'd been going through for weeks. Needing for something to change to end the monotony of his life at that time. Even a different torture would be preferred. When the time came though, when he was asked by that voice from the ceiling what his name was, something happened. He felt something snap inside him. It wasn't fair. What was happening wasn't fair. Why did it matter if he answered the three goddamn questions at all? He was a human being and he didn't deserve this. Instead of giving the answers he had planned, he found himself screaming up at the one camera "MY NAME IS CLOUD! IT'S CLOUD IT'S CLOUD IT'S CLOUD!"

Over and over again he screamed his name while he began to pick up anything and everything that wasn't bolted down and throwing it against the walls. He even managed to rip the metal sink in the nook from the wall. He would have ripped down the cameras if they hadn't been too high for him to reach. By then he knew he'd caused whoever was watching him to take notice because he heard the sound of the door to the metal room being unlocked. The clones had been sent to him to subdue him. The moment the door opened he threw the sink towards the first clone where it hit him but didn't stop him from entering the room. He advanced on Cloud fast, crossing the short distance between them and taking hold of Cloud's torso. For a moment Cloud went mostly limp, expecting to be brought back into the metal room for another beating. He reverted to his defence mechanism that told him not to fight so it would be over faster but as he was pulled into the metal room, it was clear to him something was different. There were two additional clones present and instead of being dropped to the floor in the room where he would be punched and kicked, he was lead instead through that other mysterious door into a metal hall, the clone's surrounding him.

He wanted to take it all in. The difference in his surroundings, but he was moved too quickly. Barely three steps through the hall and through yet another door he saw where it was they were taking him. The room seemed empty at first. It was concrete, like his cell. Lit with the same irritating fluorescence he never seemed to get used to but there were what looked like doors in the floor. It made no sense to him until one of them was pulled open, showing him that the doors were attached to boxes built into the floor. His chest tightened as he looked upon the one open box. That's when he remembered that terrifying experience he'd had of being locked into a box by Hojo once before.

"No. No. No," he began saying, repeating it over and over a little louder each time until he was being forced inside of the box and he began to scream that same word while tears were building up in his eyes fast and terror gripped his insides. "NO! PLEASE!" he screamed out as loud as he could when the lid was flipped shut on him, trapping him inside. He raised his hands in the tight space to try and push the lid open but it was too late, he could already hear the sounds of the locks clicking shut. He was sobbing then with the word 'please' still erupting from him over and over until the lights went out in the room and the door to the room shut, leaving him alone. His screams died down fast but he continued to cry. But even that was short lived as his anxiety took over and claustrophobia set in. He strained against the constriction around him and pushed from every direction, heaving in desperate breaths, the hyperventilation making his head spin. He couldn't take it. His heart beat so hard, pain ripped through his chest. He imagined that's what a heart attack must feel like. Then he heard a voice.

"Can you hear me?" it asked. "You need to calm down," it said. "Lie still a minute."

"Who's there?" Cloud called out in return, his voice still cracked in emotion. He could tell by the way the voice was muffled that it was spoken from behind the lid of another box. He wasn't alone.

The voice shushed him gently. "Take slow breaths," the voice advised.

Cloud complied. And as the panic attack died down he began to feel his tears overtaking him again, running down the sides of his already wet face.

"What's your name," the voice asked after minute. Cloud could tell now that it was a male voice. Deep. He sounded older than Cloud was.

"Cloud," he said painfully as he tried to hold back from bursting into sobs again.

"I recognize your voice," the man told him. "I've heard it before, while in slumber."

"Who are you?" Cloud asked once more.

There was a brief pause before the man answered. "My name's Vincent."


	2. Chapter 2

_Hi everyone! Thank you so much to everyone who read the first chapter of this story and to all of you who left reviews. That includes the guest reviews. I wasn't able to reply to your reviews if you left one as a guest but I really appreciate you taking the time to leave me a comment or two. I hope you all like the second chapter. It's about as short as the first chapter, maybe shorter. I don't plan on having very lengthy chapters in this story as a recurring comment I received for "Reclamation" was that some of the chapters were hard to get through due to length. Some of them definitely pushed 10,000 words which I agree is ridiculous. None of that this time around. Okay, that's it from me. Enjoy and don't forget to add the story to your alert list if you like it! Thanks everyone!_

~Two~

Zack woke to what he thought was the word 'no' being screamed into his ear. He knew the voice well, as he knew well the panic in it. It scared him awake, forcing him to sit up fast, planting his feet on the floor next to the couch and shaking as his body broke into a cold sweat.

"Zack," he heard his name spoken and he looked over from the couch where he'd been resting at Aerith who was standing by the kitchen sink where she'd been drying some dishes. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

He felt sick to his stomach. He felt disoriented. He almost thought he could hear crying coming from somewhere, but as he looked around he found the sound fading in his ears. "How long was I sleeping?" he asked her.

"Not long. Fifteen minutes maybe," she answered softly.

He used his hand to wipe some of the sweat from his face. Aerith set down the plate in her hand and came toward the couch.

"Was I yelling?" Zack asked next and she shook her head as she came to sit next to him.

"Just sounds," she told him. She watched as he leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees while he placed his face in his hands. He rubbed at his face before running his hands through his dark hair. He was exhausted, she could tell. There was no way he couldn't be. He hadn't slept more than an hour a night for more than two weeks. Every time he tried to sleep he was plagued by terrorizing nightmares, most of which had something to do with Cloud. "I know you said you didn't want to try the pills, but...maybe it's time," she said tentatively.

About a week ago, after doing some research, she'd gotten a hold of a sedative that she hoped would help. One of the side-effects was that it inhibited dreaming. Given his recent struggles with substances, she knew it would be a risk for him to take something like that, but she felt it to be a reasonable risk to take.

Without looking at her, he shook his head. "I'm not doing that," he said firmly. She'd heard it before. She could only be understanding for so long while watching him suffering.

"Zack—" she began to argue. He was quick to get up from the couch, leaving her there as he went to get himself a drink of water from the kitchen.

"I can't, Aerith," he stated plainly while filling a glass with water from the tap. The last thing he wanted was to sedate himself so he was closed off from the world and any incoming information.

"You need to sleep," she said back sharply, her patience wearing thin.

"I _need_ to find Cloud," he shot back at her.

"This isn't the way!" she protested, coming to a stand to approach him. "Even if he is trying to communicate something—" she began to reason but he interrupted.

"If? You're the one who said that's what this is!" he pointed out and she sighed, thinking back on that day she now regretted. Cloud had only been gone, apparently in Hojo's hands once again, for barely 72 hours before Zack began having one bad dream after another. After the first few nights of having them and finding himself being woken up again and again by them, the hallucinations started. They were brief and fueled by his exhausted state, Aerith was sure. He'd hear things, voices. Cloud's voice. He'd see little flashes of things but he didn't know what it was. Concerned, she tried to look deep into his heart to find a reason. The answer seemed clear. Somehow Cloud was speaking to him from wherever he was. Not consciously perhaps. Maybe not even from his mind, but his body. Or maybe it was the pieces of himself when he was just 15 years old and scared that were crying out to him from behind their shared experience in captivity. The mistake she'd made was telling Zack what she believed because now he was committed to receiving everything and anything transmitted to him through those dreams and hallucinations.

"Maybe I was wrong," she spoke softly. She knew by his expression he didn't want to hear it.

"And if you aren't?" he asked.

"Do you think he's just going to tell you where he is?" she questioned back and Zack looked at her hard.

"What if I do?" he countered.

"What if he doesn't _know_ where he is?" she said. She watched his eyes fall toward the floor as if a feeling of hopelessness was running through him. She closed the distance between them as she approached him. He turned his back to her, setting the glass in his hand on the counter in front of him, and placed his palms on the counter's smooth surface. Aerith placed her hands on his shoulders gently. "You need to rest," she tried to whisper soothingly.

It didn't work. He moved away from her and the counter, clearly annoyed now. "I need to get some air," he told her as he walked toward the door to put on his boots.

"I'm sorry," she said as she watched him. "I'm worried about you. You don't need to leave," she said pleadingly.

Standing straight again with his boots on he looked back at her, his expression softening. He forced a bit of a smile as he came toward her. He leaned in to give her a light kiss. "I'm just going for a walk," he assured her. "I'll think about it," he added before leaving her standing in the living room of her house, hoping that _it_ was the sleeping pills.

000

Early the following morning, Zack went out to meet up with Lazard. Aerith decided she'd take a walk down to the bar to see how Tifa was doing. The bar was locked up when she got there so she knocked a few times and waited, wondering if Tifa was even awake. A minute later, Tifa came to the door.

"Hi," she greeted when she'd opened it, stepping aside a little to let Aerith in.

"Hi. I wasn't sure if you'd be up at this time," Aerith said back.

"It's a relatively safe bet I'm always awake these days," Tifa replied. She locked the door again and headed toward the bar. "Can I get you some tea or coffee?" she offered.

"Tea would be great, thank you," Aerith answered as she followed behind Tifa.

"Coming right up," Tifa told her. She took a seat at one of the tables while Tifa disappeared a minute into the kitchen in the back. "It'll just be a few minutes," Tifa said when she returned. She headed behind the bar to get some cups. "So, she said, Zack's not with you," she stated though her tone was questioning.

"No, he went to see Lazard so I thought I'd come see how you've been doing the past week," Aerith explained.

"I'm alright," Tifa said a little solemnly, though she did manage a small smile.

"Johnny's not here?" Aerith questioned and she shook her head.

"Not for a few days," Tifa replied. "Last he said he was going to _follow some possible leads_. I think he just has a hard time not doing _something_ ," she said. Aerith nodded in understanding. "How's Zack?" she asked.

Aerith shrugged first. "Okay, I think," she said back.

"Still not sleeping?" Tifa guessed.

"Not really."

"Is he still having nightmares?" she asked next.

"Yeah," Aerith confirmed. "I don't know how much longer he can stand it. I know I'm almost at the end of my rope and they aren't happening to me."

Tifa lowered her head a little before asking, "Are they still about Cloud?"

"I think so," Aerith confirmed. "Most of them anyway. They must be so horrible. Every other night he yells out or cries until he wakes up. I just wish there was something I could do."

With her eyes still downcast, Tifa said, "Zack told me what you said. That you thought maybe Cloud was reaching out in some way through those nightmares." She looked up again and Aerith gave a short nod. "Does that mean whatever horrible things Zack sees in these dreams are happening to Cloud?" Tifa asked her.

"No," Aerith said back. "It's impossible for us to know. He could be fine," Aerith reasoned. "I could have been wrong. The dreams…they could mean nothing," she pointed out. "Zack's own worries could be causing them."

"I guess that's true," Tifa agreed. "I mean, how could it be possible that Zack could know anything about what Cloud is going through? And why only Zack?"

Aerith nodded because she didn't really know what to say. The whistle of the heated kettle in the kitchen had Tifa getting up and walking away before she had to come up with a reply.

000

There was no specific way for Zack to reach Lazard. It wasn't like he carried around a phone. Yet, it never seemed to take more than ten minutes for Lazard to find him when he was looking. If it took less, he assumed the man was already near, keeping watch. He couldn't decide if he found it uncomfortable that Lazard had essentially been watching and tailing him for months. Lazard had told him he felt compelled to stay near. Had explained simply that it is what Angeal would want. Zack could recall many days in the past that he had prayed so badly to have Angeal back in his life and the thought that in some way he had Angeal back, even if it were just a piece of him, made him almost too grateful for Lazard to tell him to stop following him.

Zack waited for the man to find him that morning at the sector's edge where he watched the sun in the distance climb higher into the sky, feeling the air growing hotter at the same time.

"Morning Zack," he heard Lazard say when he'd finally arrived.

Zack didn't say anything at first, waiting until the man was standing next to him. "How do you always know where I am?" he asked then.

"I've told you," Lazard replied softly.

Zack kept his eyes on the horizon. "I mean, when you couldn't see me. When you didn't know where I was?" He looked at Lazard when he didn't answer. "How were you able to find Genesis?" he continued to question. "And why were you only sometimes able to find him? I mean, how did you know where to go when you found out he'd given Cloud to Hojo?"

"I was able to find him because he wanted me to," was the man's vague answer.

"How did you know?" Zack pressed. He watched as Lazard tried to think of a way to explain.

"I felt it. I just knew," he stated.

"So, just now, you knew I wanted to see you?" Zack inquired skeptically. Lazard nodded. "How? What does it feel like?"

"I don't know," the man said at first. "It's like…something holding your whole body and pulling you forward."

"How do you know who's doing the pulling?" Zack asked next.

Lazard appeared to be thinking again, trying to come up with the right words. "I guess…the energy is different, and the signs…"

"Signs?" Zack echoed, his interest sparked.

Lazard nodded. "It's like a hum inside my ear when I know Genesis is calling."

"What is it when I call?" Zack asked.

Lazard's eyes were closed as he answered. "There's a smell. It's like…campfire smoke. Very faint."

It didn't make a lot of sense to Zack but he wanted to believe the man. "Have you thought about how this is all possible?" he questioned, trying not to let his skepticism come through in his tone.

"Something unites us," Lazard said, then looking into the distance added, "Genesis had his theory."

"Which was?"

"The Jenova cells," Lazard began to explain. "They communicate. I didn't think it could be possible. I only took on Angeal's cells…but he had the Jenova cells, so perhaps by extension…"

At the mention of the Jenova cells, Zack had fallen into his own thoughts, not really hearing what Lazard said after that.

"Zack," the man said, capturing his attention back. "Why are you asking?"

"I need to know for certain," he replied.

"What?"

"That Cloud is sending signals that somehow I can pick up," he announced softly. "Maybe, it can help me find him."

"Do you think Cloud knows of the Jenova connection and how to use it?" Lazard asked him.

"I doubt it," he said back with a bit of a sigh. He already knew what Lazard would say to that.

"Then it's unlikely. He needs to call to you," he was told. Seeing Zack's disheartened expression he continued. "That doesn't mean you aren't picking up on something. There's no rule book on how any of this works. Jenova cells aside, you and Cloud are connected in other ways. When someone you care deeply about is involved, sometimes you just know and feel things. It doesn't have to be logical."

The man had a fair point. It didn't mean he was any closer to finding Cloud though, or to proving the bad dreams he'd been having were anything but manifestations of his own anxiety and fear.

Not long after he'd spoken with Lazard, Zack got a call from Johnny who asked him to meet him down by his warehouse in the slums. It wasn't far from where he was. Johnny didn't tell him what it was about. He hadn't seen him in over a week. Johnny was waiting for him outside the warehouse when Zack got there. He seemed about as tired as Zack felt himself.

"Why'd you call me here?" Zack asked him, a little annoyed he had to walk all the way down to the warehouse to find out. Johnny took his phone from his pocket and unlocked it. After a moment of scrolling and tapping through his touch screen he turned the phone around for him to see, though Zack wasn't entirely sure what it was he was looking at. It was a video, perhaps live feed from a camera somewhere. What he saw was what seemed to be a male figure tied to a chair in a small room with some sort of covering over his face.

"Who is that?" he asked.

"The person responsible for capturing Cloud and bringing him to Genesis," Johnny replied. "The one you said used to work for Hojo."

"Galen?" Zack said almost in awe. He looked at Johnny. "You kidnapped him?"

"Collected," Johnny said back. "Thought you may want the chance to question him on some things but it's up to you. Hold…or release."

Zack thought about it. He doubted Galen would speak on anything he was asked about but that fact set aside he had one of Hojo's former assistants within reach. The man who'd been essentially his _lead_ assistant, which was the closest thing to having Hojo himself and that felt almost like gold.

"Without a doubt," he said finally. "We hold."


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey everyone, I'm submitting two chapters tonight. Both of them are short so you can decide to read one now and the other later or read them one after the other as one longer chapter._

 _Thank you so much to everyone who added this story to their alert lists and to those of you who took the time to review. I'm so pleased to have you guys reading along for this sequel. On another note, I'm very sorry it has taken me so long to update. My job really picks up in the summer months here as it's mostly seasonal (outdoor work) so I work longer hours and don't have time to write through the week. Adding in all the commute time I'm working and driving back and forth from work for about 14 hours a day, which leaves me with basically zero time to do anything outside of work and sleep until the weekend. Fun times. I'm just really sorry you all have to wait so long for updates. I'm trying to work on chapters on the weekends so I'll get stuff out to you as soon as I can._

 _Hope all is well with you guys!_

 ** _Update July 14: So I was REALLY tired when I wrote this chapter (see reason above) and when I re-read it after submitting I realized there were a HUGE number of inconsistencies when trying to connect this to the first chapter, so I went through and changed some things to make it all better lol. So, if you are re-reading this chapter and think some things seem different, that's probably why. Man, I need sleep._**

~Three~

"Vincent?" Cloud repeated the stranger's name when it was said to him from somewhere nearby. "Are you locked up too?" he asked, though he already knew the answer to expect.

"Yes," Vincent said.

"For how long?" he dared to ask, somewhat afraid of what he'd be told.

"It has been…years," were the words he heard and dreaded.

"Why won't Hojo let you out?" he questioned next.

There was a momentary quiet and then Vincent's response. "He does not know I am awake."

Cloud thought carefully about his words before he said them. He thought it may be overstepping his bounds with this stranger but he had to ask. "Don't…don't you want out?" he asked.

Another bout of short silence.

"I'm not sure anymore what it would be like to be out," was his strange answer that made Cloud truly wonder how long the man had been confined to that box.

"Anything's better than this," Cloud stated surely.

Vincent didn't agree or disagree. Instead he advised softly that Cloud should rest and conserve his energy.

Cloud didn't know if Vincent went back to sleep after that but the few inquiries he made over the following hours went unanswered. While he would have preferred Vincent continued to talk with him, knowing someone was at least nearby and he wasn't entirely alone, comforted him in a small way.

He was worried from the moment he was locked into the box about how long he'd be left in it. It had been for days the first time, so he thought anyway. Maybe it had only felt like days. Maybe the fact he had no way to gauge the time made it feel longer. He felt that way now, like minutes were as long as hours. The headache he'd woken up with that morning and which plagued him through most of the day was still sitting heavy in his head. It seemed so much worse while he was lying in such a small space, with very little air circulation. It was hot, feeling almost unbearable when he let his mind focus on it for too long. It was too dark to see anything. It was infinitely worse than the seclusion of his cell. With Vincent quiet, and feeling unable to sleep himself, there was nothing for him to do but to think and dwell on the things in his past and possible future.

He had spent a lot of time since being remanded to Hojo thinking of his past days in the lab, always waiting for those terrible things he'd experienced before to be repeated. The anticipation had been torturous. He thought of Genesis a lot as well. The man's betrayal, and ultimately his own as well. He knew what he'd done to the people who cared about him must have felt like betrayal for them. He had struggled with that, feeling that his return to the lab was some sort of punishment for taking for granted what he had. For not being able to see the mistakes he was making, the wrong choices.

Though he tried to stop himself, not one day went by that he didn't think of Zack. He never allowed himself to wish or hope he'd come after him. Even if he didn't feel that was the last thing he deserved after choosing Genesis over his friends, he didn't want Zack anywhere near Hojo and his lab. As angry as he had been at Zack, and in some ways still was, for all the lying and deceit from him, he would never be able to stop caring about him like the brother he felt he was to him. The only thing that would make his situation worse now was knowing Zack was in there with him, in a position where Hojo could use Zack against him the way Galen had used Marlene and Tifa. There was no way to be sure Zack even knew what had happened to him. He hoped he didn't know, because he knew Zack was stupid enough, and cared enough about him, to attempt a rescue.

At some point, hours after he'd been put in the box and left to lie sweating in the dark in the tight space that didn't allow him any real movement, he heard the door to the room opening again. He waited for the smallest of illumination from any form of light but it didn't come. Instead, there was a single thud on the lid of the box and a voice he was familiar with spoke. It was the same voice he'd heard every day for however long he'd been in the lab. It asked him those same questions he'd been asked every day. Who he was. Who he belonged to. He suspected that if he wanted out of the box he needed to answer those questions. He held himself back. His resistance was all he had. The minute he gave in to those questions, gave those answers Hojo wanted, everything would change, and he suspected it would get worse. He'd had a moment of weakness back in his cell earlier, thinking he wanted to give in. He couldn't submit. He was stronger than that. Or at the very least, more stubborn.

The one who he had come to dub his "interviewer" didn't stay in the room long. He only gave him a minute to respond before leaving once again. Hearing the sound of the door shutting renewed his anxiety again and had him begging to whatever god would listen to help him. He tried not to let his emotions get the best of him again, taking some slow breaths as he tried to come to grips with the fact he was probably going to spend the entire night in that box, if he hadn't already. He had no idea what time it was now.

"Vincent?" he said in a questioning voice, hoping the man would reply.

"I'm here," his calm, deep voice answered him.

"They aren't going to let me out until I answer those questions," Cloud told him.

"What happens then?" Vincent asked.

Cloud shook his head a little to himself. "I don't know. I'm scared," he admitted. "Tell me how you do it, Vincent. How you live like this."

"It's not living," was the man's unsatisfying answer. There was quiet between them until Vincent spoke again. "May I ask you some things?"

"What?" Cloud asked.

"It's been a long time since I've seen the world outside," Vincent claimed. "Could you tell me what it's like?"

"Okay," Cloud agreed softly.

Over the following few hours, Vincent asked him questions that he answered, happy to try and take his mind off of his circumstances. He thought it would make him sad to talk about the world he'd been taken from again but somehow it helped him, to remind him his reality wasn't the only reality and he had something to fight to get back to. It helped to tire him out as well. Helped him to find at least a little sleep and when he did fall into a deep slumber, was able to dream of something different. Something outside of his world of anguish. He dreamt of sunny fields of grass and wildflowers that he felt were familiar to him. Something from a place he used to call home. There was no sound and it was just him but it felt peaceful, not eerie.

The fields gave way to what he felt were true memories, memories of his mother. He didn't know how old he was in the dream but he felt younger, happier. He heard his mother's voice before he saw her. Heard her singing from the garden outside their house. Saw her with her back turned to him first before she was turning and looking at him with a bright smile that lit up her vibrant eyes. Her hair shone like the sun in the summertime. She was like an angel. He didn't know how he'd ever been able to forget her.

" _What's wrong?"_ she asked him. Her voice was so soft and cradling as she said _"What is your name?"_

" _It's me,"_ he told her. _"It's Cloud."_

He reached his hand out toward her as he felt himself suddenly moving backwards, away from her. _"Wait!"_ he called but it became quickly harder to see her, to hear her. He realized why when he became aware that he was waking up to the sound of another voice speaking to him from outside the confines of his coffin back in the lab. His interviewer was back, asking him what his name was. He had been so deep inside his dream he hadn't heard him come in the room. Feeling disoriented and like he'd been dragged from his mother back into hell, he only muttered some profanities at the man outside the box.

He was a little startled at the sound of a thud towards his feet at the end of the box. He tried to look down toward his feet to see what it was but he couldn't see anything. He heard a sound though, which he couldn't decipher until he started to feel an overwhelming cold sensation suddenly. A moment later he realized it wasn't just cold but wet as well. From somewhere at the end of the box, water the temperature of near freezing was pouring in. Outside the box, the man asked him again what his name is but he didn't answer him, too preoccupied thinking about what was happening. The box began filling with water quickly. In under a minute it was already beginning to fully submerge his arms at his sides.

"What is your name?" the man repeated.

Inside his head, a voice he was sure wasn't his spoke.

 _C4. Say it._

"What is your name?" the man pushed.

"Why does it matter?!" Cloud found himself asking back as the icy water was climbing over his legs and rising to his chest, so cold it struck him with pain. He tried to somehow make himself float above it. It wasn't working.

"What is your name?"

 _Say your name_ , the voice in his head commanded. _Say C4. Say it._

"Let me out!" he found himself shouting just before the water rose high enough to cover his tightening chest. The feeling of the frigid liquid had his breath getting trapped in his lungs. He tried to take in deep breaths, tried not to panic and begin hyperventilating. He knew logically Hojo wasn't going to let him die like that but he also didn't know how far he'd let it go. Maybe he would drown him and resuscitate him. The man was crazy enough.

 _It's C4,_ that voice was speaking again from inside the walls of his skull, encouraging him to give in.

"Please!" he called out, feeling the water at his neck. He strained to keep his head up in the box, as high as he could lift it toward the lid.

 _Get me out, Cloud,_ the voice warned him, becoming more authoritative, striking in him something that made him feel he had to listen.

"What is your name?" the man outside the box asked again, his tone never changing.

"Puh-please," Cloud begged, the water reaching his ears and the sides of his face.

 _Get me out!_ that voice seemed to scream from inside him. He felt like it was ready to burst out of him physically, blowing his head open in the process. He had no choice. No other option. No way to resist.

"What is your name?" he was asked once more, though he barely heard it from the water in his ears. He couldn't keep straining his neck to keep his face above the water to keep breathing. The tip of his nose was pressing into the lid of the box above him.

"C4!" he called out, already about to repeat it as many times as it took to save himself. "It's—"

"Who do you belong to?" that persistent interviewer asked him before he could say it again. The water had stopped pouring into the box.

No one, he thought to himself. When he didn't say anything, he felt the water begin to move around him again as more of it was being forced into the box. For a moment he lost his ability to keep his head up, dropping it below the water. He was fully submerged for a second, until he was able to force his mouth high enough to take in a breath and protest as loudly as he could, "Wait! Shinra! It's Shinra!" The water stopped flowing in once more. He couldn't hear the last question he was asked but he knew what it was.

"What is Shinra?"

"Home," he called out just once, just loud enough to be heard before he felt the last of the strength in his neck muscles give out and he found himself entirely submerged again, unable to do anything other than hold onto the breath that was left in his chest. It wasn't long before the water was emptying again from the box, flowing out faster than it had entered, finding him free to breathe again. He became aware of how badly he was shaking from the cold then. When the lid on the box opened his eyes were flooded with fluorescent lighting. He shut them fast, reaching to cover them with his hands.

As he was lifted and pulled out of the box he felt as though he was being pulled from a frozen lake. More people entered the room, though he didn't try to see who. Once outside of the box, and on the floor next to it, his hands were forced from his face as someone took his soaked shirt off of him. After that a thick blanket was thrown over him, which he grabbed onto reflexively. He buried his head under it, trying to get away from the light that burned his unadjusted eyes. He drew his arms and legs into his body, trying to get warm again while he felt only numbness in his fingers, toes and face.

Hands were on him, forcing him to turn over after a minute. He felt something against his left leg that he hadn't felt on his right as someone cut away the wet material of his pants to get them off of him, leaving him naked under the material of the blanket that was tucked around his shivering body tighter.

He was lifted from the floor after a few minutes, and hoisted onto a gurney that was wheeled out of the room, back down the hall outside. As he felt himself moving, Cloud thought about Vincent and wished he could take him with him.

When he was brought back to his cell he was moved from the gurney onto the small bed. He was able to open his eyes then, seeing he was accompanied by two of the clones, one of the lab assistants and the doctor, who checked his vitals before he was left alone in his cell. The clock in the wall told him it was just after noon. He hadn't even been in the box a whole twenty-four hours, but it had felt like it. Slowly, he managed to get himself under the covers of the bed for additional warmth. As he started to feel his pulse evening and the feeling returning to his now burning toes and fingertips, he looked around at his cell. He was surprised to see it had been cleaned up after the mess he'd made in it the day before and that nothing had been taken away. He'd expected the cell to be stripped of everything not attached to the walls or floor. There was a clean set of clothing at the foot of the bed for him to change in to. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't make himself move to put them on at the moment. Still, he wanted to wait until later when the shower had come on and he'd been able to clean himself before changing into the fresh clothing. Even though he'd been soaked with that cold water, after those hours in the box sweating profusely, he still felt disgusting.

He fell asleep after a half hour, feeling exhausted from the night before. If lunch had been brought to him, he missed it, only waking when he heard the sound of the shower coming on in the late afternoon. He dragged himself up from the bed, still feeling cold from deep inside his body. He didn't really want to get wet again, afraid after what he'd endured earlier, but the water was warm. It was warmer than he thought it usually was but he couldn't be sure. It did help to bring his body temperature back up to where he was comfortable again and was able to dress himself in the clean clothing he'd been given.

He emerged from the shower to find a dinner tray had been pushed under the cell door, earlier than usual, though he wasn't upset about it. Hunger pains had wracked his stomach shortly after he woke. After eating, he curled up in bed and fell back asleep almost immediately, hours before the lights in the cell were to go out, feeling like all the hours before had been just some strange dream. He slept heavily that night, only stirring once or twice for a few moments before drifting off again. When he woke in the morning, he opened his eyes and looked up toward the clock in the wall across from him to see what time it was. He thought it had to be before six as the clones hadn't come for his daily beating. He was shocked to see the read-out of _8:14_ staring back at him. That could only mean that the clones hadn't come for him. When he thought about it, there had been no voice the night before, asking him those three questions he'd been asked every single day. Of course, he'd answered them the day before. That really had changed things. But he wondered now what that meant for him. What was going to happen now?


	4. Chapter 4

**_NOTE: I have submitted two chapters tonight so if you receive alerts to your email you may have opened this link first and not yet read Chapter Three. You may want to go back and read it if you missed it :)_**

~Four~

Zack marched into the warehouse after Johnny with a clear sense of purpose. To get Galen to tell him anything he knew about where Hojo could be holding Cloud. He was determined to get something out of him and yet he still hesitated before entering the store room where he was apparently being held. There was no window in the door to see through and though he'd already seen the man on Johnny's phone, it was still a bit of a shock to see him sitting in that room when the door was finally opened.

Zack looked at Johnny before entering the room. "You coming in too?" he asked him.

"Do you want me to?" Johnny asked back and he shook his head. "He's all yours," Johnny said to him, waiting for Zack to step into the room before closing the door gently behind him.

For a moment, Zack stood still and stared at the seated figure before him. His face was still covered. Though the circumstances and environment were slightly different, there was still something about the situation that was so eerily similar to the one he'd shared with Mailer months back. He'd spent a lot of time after that night questioning himself. Hating himself. Feeling sick at himself. But he knew he'd do it again.

Galen didn't move, but his curiosity at who was in the room must have gotten to him because he was first to speak.

"You ever going to tell me why I'm here?" he asked, his words muffled under the fabric covering his face. Zack approached him then and clutched the covering, pulling it off his head in one quick motion. He took a step back then, to observe the man while he squinted and blinked, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the light. It was definitely Galen. He remembered the man's face well.

When Galen could finally keep his eyes open he looked up at Zack, a tight smile twisting his lips. "Z1. You look like shit," he commented.

"That really what you want to say to me right now?" Zack said back sharply. He stepped forward again, bringing his face close to Galen's as he warned, "You call me that _ever_ again and I'm going to rip your tongue out through your asshole."

Galen squinted a little again in response to Zack's words that were said just centimeters from his face but he smiled again when Zack stood straight once more, towering over him from where he sat. "But then, how would you get me to talk?" he taunted. "You're looking for Strife," he stated. "I don't have him."

"I know," Zack said back. "Hojo has him. I want to know where."

"You know where," Galen countered. "Nibelheim."

"No," Zack replied simply.

"The mansion."

"No," Zack repeated. "I've been there. No one's in the mansion. The mansion is empty," he declared. He watched as Galen took in the information. He lowered his eyes. Appeared to be thinking.

"I don't work for Hojo anymore," he claimed, his eyes directed back at Zack again.

Zack shrugged. "I don't know that," he said as he started walking a slow circle around Galen.

"If I were working for him, I'd be with him right now, wouldn't I?" Galen tried to reason.

"Suppose so," Zack said back. "But you do know where he is if not in Nibelheim."

"Why?" Galen asked.

"You were basically his head assistant," Zack pointed out.

With a dry laugh, Galen countered. "That doesn't mean he divulged everything to me."

Zack shook his head. "You would know if he had another lab somewhere," he said. He came to a stop in front of the man again. "I know you know something," he said firmly.

With a smug expression, Galen replied, "You'd never get it out of me if I did."

That statement did a good job of igniting Zack's anger but he held it back, resisting the urge he had to punch the son of a bitch right then. "Why?" he fired at him. "Do you think he's going to take you back one day?" he asked loudly. He waited for Galen to respond but he gave only some sort of expression that was difficult to read. Something about it though told Zack he was right. "You'd go back, wouldn't you?" Zack asked him but he still said nothing. "Piece of shit. You're going to tell me what I want to know," Zack told him as he headed toward the door. He looked back briefly before leaving, adding a threatening "One way or another," before he opened the door.

"You sure did a good job mind-fucking Strife?" Galen called after him suddenly, making him halt in his tracks. He glanced back at the man. "Had him thinking he had parents. Was a SOLDIER," Galen added with clear amusement in his tone.

"Well you sure set him straight, didn't you?" Zack shot back. "Gained his trust just so you could screw him over."

"I saved his life," Galen said with something that almost seemed like pride in his tone.

"Yeah?" Zack replied fast. "Well no one's going to save yours." With that he stepped into the hall and slammed the door behind him.

Johnny wasn't far away. He was out in the main storage area.

"He knows where Hojo has Cloud," Zack called to him as he approached him. "I'm sure of it," he added when he came to a stop in front of Johnny. "I'm going to rip it out of him," he swore.

Johnny didn't say anything back to dissuade him. Instead he told him, "The other one wants to see you."

"Other one?" Zack questioned with confusion.

"He had someone with him when I found him," Johnny explained. "Couldn't leave a witness."

"Okay," Zack said back. "And he?" he inquired and Johnny nodded. "He's asking to see me?" Another nod. "Why?" he asked.

"He just said he wants to talk," Johnny told him.

"Alright, then," Zack said with a sigh. "Lead the way," he told Johnny.

Johnny took him to another part of the warehouse where he stopped outside of what resembled a metal garage door. Reaching for a chain next to it, Johnny pulled on the chain until the door was raised, revealing the other guy who he'd _collected_ with Galen. His face wasn't covered through and he stared in their direction when the door was open. Johnny tied the chain off and stood back while Zack moved into the room. He didn't recognize the guy sitting in front of him on the cement floor. He didn't look like a scientist either. He seemed more military physique and unlike Galen he almost looked worried. He spoke before Zack had said anything.

"You're Zack," he said.

"You know me?" Zack said back.

He nodded. "Know of you," he confirmed. He moved his arms a little from where they were secured behind his back. "Can you uncuff me?" he asked. "I don't want any trouble."

Zack shook his head. "Asking the wrong guy. Not my cuffs," he told him. The man lowered his head a little at that. "Who are you?" Zack asked him, pulled his attention back to him.

"Dove," he said. "I looked after Cloud when Galen found him."

Zack tried not to let his mind wander, thinking about Cloud and what it must have been like for him when he was first captured by them. Though Cloud had ultimately chosen to return to Genesis and Galen, he didn't imagine his initial confinement had been pleasant for him.

Zack cleared his throat gently. "You wanted to talk to me?" he said.

"Is Galen still alive?" Dove asked him and he shrugged.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Why?" he asked in return.

"He doesn't have Cloud," the man told him.

"I know. Hojo does," Zack said as he crossed his arms over his chest. A look of shock came over the man at his feet.

"He does? Why do you need Galen then?" Dove questioned.

Zack let his eyes peruse the room as he spoke. "From what I remember, Galen being Hojo's lead lapdog, I'm sure he knows where to find Hojo, but he's not saying, which is fine with me. I'm content to beat it out of him if that's what he prefers."

"He hasn't told you yet?"

Zack looked at him hard. "Yet?" he said in question. "You realize you just gave me a reason to believe I do have something to torture out him?" he pointed out.

Dove looked away from him, down at the cold grey floor. "Would you let me talk to him?" he asked softly. "I may be able to get him to tell you what he knows."

It seemed an odd request to Zack. Something wasn't adding up. "Why do you care?" he inquired.

Still looking away, Dove answered. "Cloud's a good kid. I like him. I saw the tapes. From the mansion. I think what was done to the both of you was messed up."

"Galen helped Hojo with that," Zack retorted and Dove tilted his head to look up at him again.

"I know," he agreed. "He's got more brilliance than emotions."

"He's a psychopath," Zack fired back heatedly. He forced himself to stay calm. "What makes you think you can get him to talk to me?" he asked.

"He's…my brother," Dove said. "He's not perfect. Neither am I. But I need to believe in him."

It was a bombshell Zack hadn't expected and one that he felt threw a giant wrench into his plan. Suddenly, just the thought of trying to force the information he wanted out of Galen made him feel guilty. He took in a deep breath and let it out slow. "Fine," he agreed finally.

"Brothers, huh?" Johnny said to Zack when they were standing outside the room where Dove was apparently trying to persuade Galen to talk. They weren't concerned about leaving them alone in the room. They were able to see what the two were doing on Johnny's phone where a camera in the room was delivering live feed. So far Galen wasn't saying much. He shook his head several times as Dove spoke to him.

"What are you thinking about?" Johnny asked Zack, having noticed how distant he seemed in that moment.

"Nothing," Zack said back. "I'm just tired," he lied. Johnny saw through it, giving him a look that indicated as such. Zack sighed. "I'm worried…about time. If this asshole doesn't talk, I don't know what to do next. Hojo's had Cloud for weeks now."

"Three," Johnny agreed but there was something in his tone that seemed he was suggesting it to be a relatively short period of time.

"Do you know how long that can be where he is?" Zack countered. "The things that can happen to a person—"

"I'm aware," Johnny interrupted him gently.

Of course he knew. It took just a little more than that amount of time for the rebels in Wutai to kill the version of Johnny that Zack still remembered. The teen that Zack had known at the Cadet Academy in Midgar. They couldn't take his strength from him. His resilience that was locked into his core, his biology. That came like reflex for him. They tortured the pride out of him. They ripped his spirit out. That fiery and fiercely rebellious ego. His mouthy retorts. His wit and humor. His challenging, antagonistic, and frustratingly unbound nature that had reminded Zack of himself. There were bits of those things, like tiny crumbs left over, or particles of dust. Enough to make a person see the terror he'd endured. Maybe he wasn't broken, but he wasn't undamaged either. Forever a wounded soul. That what Zack felt of himself.

"If Galen knows anything, he'll tell us," Johnny stated surely. There was no doubt in his tone.

Johnny looked at his phone to see what looked like something different from Galen than the smug and determined expression he'd been wearing since he picked him up and brought him to the warehouse. Dove moved away from him and there was a knock on the door to the room indicating he was finished with Galen. Johnny opened the door to let him out.

"He said if you bring him a map he'll show you where Cloud may be," the man said without hesitation or questions from Zack and Johnny.

"Done," Johnny said as he departed, headed off somewhere in the warehouse. Zack took Dove back to the area where Johnny had been holding him, telling him this better not turn out to be a waste of time.

With a map in hand, Zack entered the room where Galen had been waiting. Johnny followed but stayed quiet near the door.

"Baby bro get through to you?" Zack asked Galen, who looked back at him with disdain.

"I'll need my hands," Galen replied, looking past Zack at Johnny. "Give me the map," he ordered when Johnny had uncuffed his hands. He moved himself off the chair he was seated on and crouched on the floor, rolling the map out in front of him. Zack and Johnny watched him closely.

"Hojo has three facilities," Galen revealed. "One is in the mansion in Nibelheim. There's also one in Midgar, and one in a remote southern location. Approximately here." Zack looked at where the man was pointing on the map. He was pointing to a chain of islands that coincidentally was off the coast of Gongaga, his hometown. "If Strife's not in Nibelheim as you say," Galen continued, "then he's probably at one of the two other facilities. If I had to guess I'd say here," he said, pointing at the island chain again.

"Great," Zack said. "So how do we get in?" he asked.

"You don't," Galen said fast.

"What?"

Galen locked eyes on his. "It's not like the mansion. It's unreachable and impenetrable."

"Why?" Johnny asked from next to Zack.

"Unreachable because only authorized aircraft or sea vessels can reach the island. And even if you could get to the island, the facility is underground. Deep underground. It's heavily guarded with very strictly controlled access," Galen told them.

"There has to be a way in," Zack argued.

"There isn't," Galen snapped back.

Zack looked back at Johnny when he noticed his eyes on him, like he was waiting to see his reaction. He wasn't great at hiding his emotions, not in recent days. He was sure Johnny could see the despair that was rushing through him. The hopelessness. Turning to look at Galen, Johnny reacted to Galen before Zack was forced to. He reached down and grabbed hold of Galen, hauling him up from where he was still crouched.

"You better hope there _is_ a way in," Johnny warned him sharply as he shoved him back down into the nearby chair and proceeded to cuff him again. "Or that you have some sort of information that is more helpful than this or we won't have a reason to restrain ourselves."

Galen released a dry laugh. "I think I can handle it," the man mocked.

Johnny smiled back at him. There was something eerie about it because a smile wasn't an expression Johnny really seemed capable of anymore. "Yeah?" he said as he leaned in close to Galen, his face coming within an inch of his. In a startlingly soft but icy tone he asked, "What about that brother of yours?"


	5. Chapter 5

**_Two chapter update alert:_** _Yes, that's right! Two more chapters. Five and Six._ _  
_

 _In other news...uh..._

 _*Sigh*_

 _So yeah, fancy seeing you here? How is everyone? It's been awhile. I'm so very sorry for making you guys wait for more updates. 60 hour work weeks make my brain useless when it comes to creativity and writing. I know a bunch of you can probably relate. I literally took about four hours to write Chapter Five and Six. That's not good lol. Hopefully they aren't terrible though. I can promise the excitement will amp up shortly. Well-not like time-wise for you guys waiting for updates, but like by Chapter 7, whenever that comes out._

 _I would like to thank you guys and all your amazingness for reading my updates and for adding this story to your alert and favs lists and to all of you who faved and added me to your author alert lists. You guys are awesome! And I'm so grateful. Thank you hundreds of times over for your reviews, and thank you to my guest reviewers. I don't get the chance to reply to your guest reviews so I'll say here that I really appreciate them. I hope everyone is doing well!_

 _Enjoy!_

~Five~

At 10 am the door to Cloud's cell opened. He heard a click and watched from his bed as the door eased itself open slightly. He couldn't help his stomach from sinking and his heart pounding harder. Every time that cell had opened it had resulted in pain but he wasn't sure what to expect outside of seeing one or more of the clones. After a moment though, he realized no one was entering his cell. Out of curiosity, he got up from the bed and approached the ajar door, taking hold of the handle and pulling it open slowly. He looked into the metal room on the other side but saw no one. Even stranger was the fact the door on the other side of the metal room was also open.

He knew that there was no way something good would be awaiting him out there but it had been so long of seeing and experiencing the same things, he didn't feel he could keep himself from going forward.

He entered the hall outside the metal room and his eyes were drawn immediately to the door to the room where the boxes built into the floor were. He thought of Vincent and it found him attempting to open the door and get into the room. The door was locked.

Letting go of the handle in his hand, he let his eyes wander over the rest of the hallway. There were a few other doors in the hallway, all of which were locked when he tried to open them, all except the one at the end of the short hall. He pushed it open slowly, peering through to what lay beyond. What he found was a set of stairs leading upwards, and though his curiosity only heightened, he felt hesitant to go any further.

It had to be some sort of trap. _Why?_ Cloud asked himself. _For what purpose?_ His inner-debate was halted by his own feet moving forward, almost of their own accord. His only other option to ascending the stairs was to return to that same small room he'd been confined to for nearly a month. He just wanted something different, even if it meant Hojo would be waiting at the top of the stairs with a whole room of torture devices.

There was another short hall at the top of the stairs and another door that was cracked open a bit. He could hear something coming from inside the room. Like the quiet clicking of keys on a computer keyboard. Something told him it couldn't be Hojo. He just felt it and that put him slightly at ease but it couldn't erase all his apprehension. When he pushed open the door before him he found his eyes first drawn to the wall directly across from where he was standing. Mounted to the wall were twelve monitors displaying what he assumed was the feed from various cameras around the mansion. He recognized his own cell on a few of the monitors before he let his sight settle on the only other person in the room outside of himself. It was a light-haired man, facing away from him toward the wall of monitors while he typed on a laptop computer. After a few seconds he spoke.

"I'll be with you in a moment. Please, have a seat," he said without looking back. Something about his words and the way he said it instantly annoyed Cloud, feeling as though he were attending some appointment at a doctor's office or something of the like.

Only glancing once at the padded chair in front of him but not sitting, he asked, "Who are you?" his tone sharp. He was met with a gesture from the man's leather-gloved hand that told him he'd have to wait. Releasing a forceful exhale, he looked at the monitors once more and his eyes focused on those that showed Hojo's lab. He found himself staring at one of the visible glass testing cylinders. Instead of the actual memories coming to his mind about the time he'd spent in the glass tube, he thought of the pictures and videos he'd seen. The scene of his body suspended inside, more mako than blood flowing through it. It made him suddenly nauseous and his knees weak.

He sat himself down then, just to keep himself from suddenly falling as he felt his head getting light. He lowered his eyes to the back of the man's head in front of him. His neat, well-trimmed hair. His square, broad shoulders under a long reddish-brown leather coat. He didn't appear to be a Turk. He felt himself growing nervous the longer the silence went on between them. It had him becoming aware once again of the tight annoyance attached to his arm. That band adhered to his skin that never ceased to itch. He found himself scratching at it a little, his nails catching on it and pulling slightly. The man ahead of him stopped typing then, and turned in his chair to face him. Brown eyes met Cloud's. The man looked to be somewhere in his early to mid-forties. He had a roughly shaved face. Light stubble adorning his skin.

The man looked at him for a second as a small smile crept across his lips. "I am Rand," he said finally. He surprised Cloud by extending his hand across the desk toward him. Cloud only looked at it before raising his eyes inquisitively.

"Turk?" Cloud asked and the man retracted his hand, placing it palm down on the desk top.

"No," he said back.

"Lab assistant?"

Rand shook his head slowly.

"Then who are you?" Cloud prodded impatiently.

"I am a Keeper," the man answered him simply.

"A Keeper?" Cloud echoed, earning a nod.

"Yours," Rand clarified.

"What the hell does that mean?" Cloud inquired fast.

"Professor Hojo hired me to ensure he gets the results he desires from his project," the man explained matter-of-factly.

"Results?" Cloud repeated.

"Yes. In science there is the experiment. The experiment has the hypothesis, the methodology, the results, and the analysis of said results."

"What about the purpose?" Cloud countered sharply and Rand smiled.

"The purpose is not my concern. Nor the hypothesis, or analysis. Only the results and the methods required to achieve them," he told Cloud.

"But you know what the purpose is?" Cloud prodded.

Rand nodded. "Of course."

"What is it?" Cloud asked.

"You know what it is. You're an intelligent being."

Cloud shook his head. "Aren't I just some lab rat to you? Some specimen?"

"In experimental terms, you're what's called a _participant_."

"Not willing," Cloud argued.

"No, but nevertheless you participate," the man pointed out.

Cloud looked away from him a moment, his eyes fixing instead on one of the monitors ahead of him where he watched who he assumed were some lab assistants moving around from one place to another.

"So, why does Hojo need you? Is he finally giving up on getting results himself?" Cloud asked while still watching the monitors.

"His time is limited these days," Rand replied. "He cannot be present for every day of the experimental proceedings."

"Why not?" Cloud questioned, looking back at Rand. "Busy abducting and torturing other helpless people."

Rand didn't say anything back at first. He appeared to be contemplating Cloud's words, or at least thinking of what he wanted to say. "Though I felt we should meet face-to-face, there's another reason I brought you in here to talk today."

"What would that be?"

"I've been watching you carefully since your arrival," he began slowly. "It hasn't escaped me, your determination to 'buck the system' as it were. While your stubborn nature is somewhat admirable, it is entirely unnecessary and pointless. You've endured great pains in your refusal to submit to your conditioning and I believe I know why. Your problem lies in your subjectivity. You believe that you do not belong here. You see yourself as a prisoner and that your free will is what you need to defend and fight for."

Cloud stared back at him, feeling uneasy about where Rand was heading.

"The problem is that you fail to see the truth, which is that you do not have free will to lose. You are not a prisoner. You are a product and one that belongs to Shinra," Rand concluded.

"You think I'm just going to roll over and accept that?" Cloud challenged angrily.

"You should," Rand agreed.

"Why?" Cloud shot back at him.

The man leaned forward in his chair, across the desk between them. "When Hojo retrieved you from the reactor in Nibelheim, you were hours from death. You had lost so much blood by then, the expectation was that you would suffer brain damage, if not complete brain function. Had Hojo not intervened, you would have perished in the reactor that night."

"You don't know that," Cloud said.

"Medically, it's a safe assumption," Rand said back. "With the entire town destroyed, there were no medical centres, hospitals, clinics, any place you could have been brought to for aid. You would not have survived the trip outside of Nibelheim to the nearest hospital."

"So what?" Cloud snapped. "That gives Hojo the right to keep me and use me for his experiments?"

"Rights are not the issue," Rand stated. "You, as you lived in the world before the reactor incident, do not exist anymore. That boy was not meant to exist after that event. In an alternate instance where Hojo did not intervene, he dies. Your problem is that you don't think you belong here. And yet, if you don't belong to Hojo and Shinra, if you never did, then you don't belong anywhere because you _do not exist_ , because you _did not survive_."

The words didn't really sink in to Cloud at that moment. He didn't really think about them. He rolled his eyes instead and said, "Well I did live, and regardless of how that happened, you and Hojo can't treat human beings like this."

Rand gave a low chuckle in return before spinning in his chair to do something at the computer he'd been typing on. He pulled up some file and lifted the computer to place on the desk, turning it so Cloud could see the screen. What he _could_ see didn't make a lot of sense to him. It looked like two sets of code side-by-side.

"This is you," Rand said while pointing to the one set of code. "Your DNA structure. And this," he added, gesturing the other set, "is that boy from the reactor. As you can see, they are radically different. Furthermore, any person analyzing your DNA would come to the same conclusion. That you are not what we would consider a _human being_." Cloud's eyes stayed on the code ahead of him, but he was looking at it blankly, though his mind was racing. "What? You think I'm lying?" Rand inquired. "I have no reason to lie."

Cloud looked at him then. "You want me to just accept my fate here?" he asked flatly. Rand only looked back at him. "I won't do it," he declared.

Rand shut the laptop between them and folded his hands on top of it. "Your submission is not in question," he said. "You're going to submit. You've already begun the process. The question is whether you are going to do so willingly or compliantly."

"There's a difference?" Cloud replied.

"Indeed, there is," Rand confirmed. "If you willingly submit, it is of your own mindful choosing. You consciously make the decision. Important to note for you, is that we do not need you to be willing. We only need you compliant, and if you take mindful, conscious decision-making away, a participant becomes quite easily compliant. Of course, willing submission is preferred, but if I have to render you mindless to get the results Hojo is looking for then I'm prepared to do so."

Cloud didn't know what to say to that. Suddenly everything began to hit him at once. What he was being threatened with. He felt an overwhelming sensation of powerlessness beginning to sink in. It must have shown on him.

"It's okay," Rand said almost soothingly. "There is still plenty of time for you to think about what you want. Just know, that there are only those two options for you regarding how we proceed here. You cannot escape this place. No one can get it who isn't supposed to be here. The only future and present that exists for you, exists here. It is up to you how you bear it."

The last thing Cloud wanted was to accept what he'd been told. To allow the hopelessness to take over, to willingly give in. But he was alone, outnumbered, outmatched, imprisoned in a place so fortified he couldn't even imagine ways to get out that he hadn't thought of already and he didn't want anyone to risk themselves to come help him. If he couldn't escape and he couldn't be saved, that left him right where he was, faced with those options he'd been given. He didn't know exactly what it meant for his mindfulness to be taken away but the last time he'd been in the mansion he'd lost control of himself and his mind, become comatose, had barely fought his way back. He didn't want to live in that darkness again.

 _What do I do?_ He asked himself when he was back in his cell, alone and resting on his bed. _What do I do…and does it even matter? Does it?_


	6. Chapter 6

**_Two chapter update alert:_** _Yes, that's right! Two more chapters. Five and Six. If you opened the link in your inbox to Chapter Six first then please go back to read Chapter Five._ _  
_

~Six~

Johnny's threat seemed to do very little to move Galen. His expression remained neutral but it didn't seem to faze Johnny, who kept his face unnervingly close to the man's as he began detailing what his next move would be. As he spoke he reached into his pocket and retrieved what looked like a pocket knife with a retracting blade.

"I'm going to leave this room and I'm going to go pay your brother a visit with this knife," he said, ejecting the blade on the knife to show Galen, earning a bit of a smirk from the man that remained as Johnny continued. "I'm going to cut off one of his fingers and I'm going to bring it back here and put it right here for you to look at."

Galen's eyes lowered to look where Johnny's index finger was pressing against the wood of the chair seat in the space between his legs. A low chuckle made its way from Galen as he looked again into Johnny's eyes.

"I'm going to do that again, and again," Johnny went on. "And _again_!" he nearly shouted as he slammed his closed fist on that same space of the chair he'd pointed to so ominously. Zack watched Galen's body jolt a little in surprise and the grin disappeared from his face. "Until you decide to sing like the proud little peacock you think you are." Johnny told him. "And if you give me that smug fucking smile again, I'll go cut off what's left of his hands. Sound good?"

"What makes you think I care what happens to him?" Galen challenged, rendering Johnny silent. "You can cut us both to pieces. It _makes no difference_ ," the man said sharply.

"We'll see," Johnny concluded as he straightened himself and retracted the knife blade in his hand. He was headed for the door then with Zack only glancing once more at Galen before following after him. Zack could tell he was headed on a path to Dove. He didn't know just how serious Johnny was regarding the threat he'd made but the way he was moving seemed to suggest he had no intention of making a liar of himself.

"Six," Zack said from behind him, stopping him outside of the area where Dove was being kept. "I don't know about this," he spoke uneasily. "This guy, Dove, hasn't done anything as far as we know."

"Who do you care about more? Strife? Or the guy behind this door?" Johnny asked him calmly.

Zack shook his head. "It's not that simple, you know it's not."

Johnny exhaled forcefully before asking Zack, "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know yet," he said back truthfully.

"You know we need to do something though. If we don't, Galen's going to think he has the complete upper hand. He'll have no reason to talk to us," Johnny pointed out. Zack nodded in understanding.

"Just…give me a little time to think," Zack stipulated. Johnny gave him a slight nod in acceptance before heading away. "I'll be in the office," he said.

Zack turned his attention from Johnny to the door in front of him. After a moment of contemplation he raised the door and entered, approaching Dove where he was seated again on the floor. The man looked understandably apprehensive. He seemed to ease a little when Zack sat himself down on the floor across from him.

"Did you find out what you wanted to know?" Dove asked him.

"Partly," Zack replied.

"So…what now?" Dove questioned next.

"I'm trying to decide if I can trust the information Galen gave me, and what I should do about the fact I think he has more information than he's given up so far," Zack told him. "I'm also wondering if I should give in to the desire I have to really hurt him for the things he did to us in the mansion."

Dove had his eyes on the floor and appeared to be contemplating his words.

"My friend out there told Galen he's going to cut your fingers off if he doesn't cooperate," Zack informed him, drawing his eyes back up suddenly. "That didn't seem to make an impact on him," Zack added. "So, what's the deal? Are you actually family?"

Dove looked away a moment, his shoulders sagging a little lower.

"We are," he confirmed lowly. He cleared his throat as if clearing away any building emotion. "He's my half-brother," he told Zack as he looked up at him again. "We have the same mother. When she met my father, Galen was her only child. My father had three sons. Together they had me. Our brothers weren't accepting of Galen, or me really. They'd pick on me and Galen always stood up for me, until he finished high school and left for college. He was at college when our parents died in an accident. I was only twelve. None of my brothers, all older, would take charge of me. Galen was the only one. He took care of me at the same time he was going through his schooling."

Zack nodded slowly. "So what happened? When'd he become the Devil's right hand?" he asked.

"He doesn't think of the things he does that way. He doesn't really think with emotion," Dove explained. "For years he wanted to be a medical doctor. He could have done it too. I remember when he was applying for colleges he had so many schools to choose from, full scholarships offered at whichever he wanted. He understood chemistry on a level not many can. He spent years researching mako composition and its healing properties. He believed he could develop mako-based medications to treat degenerative diseases."

"But not for love of humanity, right?" Zack questioned.

"Probably not," Dove admitted. "He just wanted to prove he could. He's a puzzle guy. He likes challenges. Problems he can solve."

Zack sighed softly, trying to understand. "Is that what led him to Hojo?"

"In a round-a-bout way I guess," Dove confirmed. "The professor was teaching a course at his college. He encouraged him in a reckless way. Galen was caught stealing mako. He was performing some experiments without supervision. He was expelled for it. His future was ruined. Hojo offered to take him on as an assistant to his personal research."

"Okay," Zack said through a long exhale. "I'm still wondering why he seems to be willing to gamble with your fingers. You guys were working together. You were found together."

"I hope for myself he's bluffing. I'm not his favorite person though," Dove told Zack. "For good reason," he added.

"What happened?"

"I'm the one who ratted him out for stealing mako when he was at school. He was expelled because of me," Dove revealed.

Zack hummed a little in interest. "Why'd you do that?" he asked.

The man looked away a moment, his eyes focused on a corner in the room. "He was starting to freak me out. Doing reckless things…"

"Like what?" Zack pushed and Dove looked at him straight again.

"Like exposing himself to mako. Acting as his own guinea pig. Then he tried to do it to me. I knew then there was something wrong with him. That's why I did what I did. He was so angry." He paused, smiling briefly. "I'd never been afraid of him before. I left home before I could find out just how angry he was. Dropped out of school. Joined the army. I didn't see him again until a year ago."

"You think he still holds what you did against you?" Zack inquired.

Dove gave a small shrug. "It's possible," he affirmed.

"Hm," Zack responded, thinking. "How'd you end up working with him? I know I don't know you but you seem relatively normal. What turned you into a terrorist?"

The man seemed to take immediate offense to that. "I'm _not_ a terrorist," he stated firmly.

"You were a member of a terrorist group," Zack argued.

"We only wanted to hurt Shinra, I'm sure you can understand that," Dove said.

Zack nodded again. "Yeah. Me wanting to hurt Shinra? That makes sense. Cloud wanting to hurt Shinra? That makes sense too. We were abducted, abused, tortured, cut, shot, poisoned, operated on. Galen was fired. There's a pretty sharp contrast there when comparing motives," he said heatedly.

"His job was all he had," Dove rationalized. "Not only that, but Hojo ruined him, put a mark on him. He won't ever work in a lab again."

"That's a good thing," Zack snapped and Dove turned his eyes downward, away from him.

There was silence between them a moment before Zack asked "What's your reason? Why do you hate Shinra enough to bomb buildings and risk the lives of innocent people?"

"While on deployment I witnessed some horrible, immoral and inhumane things," Dove told him. "Things involving civilians. Things the soldiers were doing to them. I did what I knew was right. I reported them and it got me dishonorably discharged. They put me in military prison for a year. They don't favor traitors in there, regardless of the fact you pledged yourself to your continent."

It was Zack's turn to avert his eyes. There was nothing he could think of to say.

"I know you have to do what you have to do," Dove said to him after a second. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for what happened to you and Strife. I'm sorry for the part we played in any of it. I want you to know that Cloud was never harmed when we had him."

Hearing that actually did comfort Zack some.

"I'm not going to hurt you, Dove," Zack told him, no ounce of a lie in his tone.

"Your friend?" Dove questioned somewhat nervously.

"I'll talk to him," Zack said, making no promises.

"What about my brother?"

"You know why I can't say the same about him, right?" Zack said and reluctantly Dove nodded. Zack gave a nod in return and started to lift himself from the floor.

"If it's not out of line," Dove spoke, making him pause on his way to the door, "I'd like to offer my help in finding Cloud."

"I'll keep that in mind," Zack replied before leaving. He made his way down to the office where Johnny was. He was on the phone when Zack entered.

"No, he's here," Johnny said. He looked at Zack as he mouthed the name _Aerith_. Zack rolled his eyes a little. She must have been getting worried after not hearing from him for a few hours. "I'm sure his phone volume is just off," Johnny told Aerith. "I'll get him to call you right back. Yeah. Bye." He flipped his phone shut then. "She wants you to meet her at Tifa's," he said.

Zack shook his head. "You know I love her but—" he started to say and Johnny cut him off fast.

"You're lucky to have her, Zack," he pointed out sternly. He switched topics then. "How'd it go? You done thinking?"

Zack nodded. "Yeah, we aren't touching him," he said. If Johnny was annoyed or disappointed with his decision he didn't really let it show. He blinked slowly before responding.

"Galen?" he asked.

Zack rubbed his face with his hands. "I dunno," he said, crossing his arms. "I think we need a different tact. Can you just…hold them for now. I gotta get back to Aerith before she sends out a cavalry."

"Sure," Johnny agreed. "You should get some sleep, Zack, you really are looking like shit lately," he commented.

A brief smile came to Zack's face. "I'll give it a try. I'll come back later tonight."

"Sounds good," Johnny said before walking with him to the building entrance.

Zack called Aerith after leaving the warehouse, telling her he'd be back at the apartment soon. He took his time getting back, contemplating the previous hours. His mind travelled from Galen to the discussion he'd had with Lazard. The man had tried to explain a little the apparent Jenova connection they had to each other and with others who possessed the cells of Jenova. He'd said that in order for Cloud to contact him consciously he'd have to know about the connection and how to use it. It made Zack wonder though, if he could call to Cloud instead. He didn't really know how to do that but he was willing to try.

"Cloud," he said aloud in the park near the apartment, where he'd stopped to sit. "I'm trying to find you, buddy." He sighed, leaning forward and placing his head in his hands. "I really need you to hear me, Cloud," he whispered. He shut his eyes, trying to think hard. Trying to see Cloud in his mind. It was hard not to picture him in terrible condition, his imagination raging. He had to focus on just seeing his face. In his head he kept repeating Cloud's name, chanting it, until his head began to ache. He pictured himself on that island chain within reaching distance of his friend. _Where are you?_ he called out. _Where are you?!_ _Cloud!_ he shouted into the deepest places he could get to in his mind and memory. He needed to see something, anything.

Something happened then, but it wasn't a vision that came to him. It was a feeling. A sensation, like a pulse. He thought at first it was his own heart beat as he felt it in his chest but it was different. He felt it from the outside as warmth spread through his torso, like he was grasping his friend, holding him for dear life. He knew then that it was Cloud. That on some level he'd found him, but nothing about what he was experiencing could tell him where Cloud physically was.

He tried to hold on, but the tighter his grip, the faster he felt the sensations slipping away. A sudden realization that he'd been holding his breath was what broke the connection, as he heaved in a breath of air and opened his eyes. His head was pounding and he felt weak. As he sat back on the bench beneath him he felt everything spinning around him. The last thing he was aware of was staring up at the plate above. He was pulled quickly after into unconsciousness.


	7. Chapter 7

_Thanks to those of you who reviewed the last updates I posted. I'm sorry I haven't replied yet. I'm locked out of my email right now for some reason. I'll figure it out though and send you responses when I get a chance.  
_

 _Cheers._

~Seven~

Zack's bout of unconsciousness lasted less than a minute but his renewed awareness didn't find him in the park where he'd sat himself some time earlier. Instead, he opened his eyes to the mansion in Nibelheim. It took him a moment to recognize it because it was from outside, at the back in the courtyard where he and Cloud had once attempted escape. He tilted his head back to look up at the massive building. His eyes settled on some storm clouds rolling in. He started to take a step backward and was stopped suddenly by something behind him. He wanted to turn around but he felt locked in place, so he reached behind him instead, his hand touching the arm of another person. The moment he made contact he knew who it was.

"Spike!" he exclaimed. Holding his friend's arm more tightly. He couldn't make his body move to turn around. He was pinned back-to-back with Cloud. "Spikey, where are you? Is it Gongaga? Midgar? Tell me where you are!" he urged.

The mansion before him seemed to pulse with energy somehow. Like the image of it became brighter. Cloud said nothing though. "Tell me where you are!" he called over his shoulder. Again the building pulsed briefly. "No, Spike," he said, catching on to what it must mean. "You're not in the mansion. You're not in Nibelheim. Don't you know where you are?" His friend was silent but there was a sudden clap of thunder and rain began to pour. The mansion began melting under it, its shingles and brick like giant beads of wax rolling over the surface to the ground.

Zack felt Cloud trembling from behind him. "It's okay," Zack told him. His words didn't seem to help. They seemed to do the complete opposite, with Cloud crying out, only the sound didn't come from right behind Zack, it seemed to come from far away, traveling on the wind. The mansion and everything Zack could see sank to the ground in coloured puddles. The air was hot and the wind came at him like a hurricane, throwing him to the ground.

It was a minute before the sudden storm died down. For a moment, it was silent. Zack lifted himself to his hands and knees and looked around at the darkness that had replaced the mansion. Everything was black. It was hard to tell what was up or down, until his eyes landed on Cloud.

His friend was lying down, curled up slightly on his side. His eyes were closed, as if he were sleeping. Zack shuffled himself toward Cloud, reaching out to grasp his shoulder.

"Spike," he said softly. When Cloud didn't stir, he took him in both hands and lifted his upper body from the floor. Cradling Cloud's head, he shook his body gently, trying to urge him awake. "Come on, Spikey," he prodded. "Please, hear me? I'm right here, buddy."

Slowly, Cloud's eyes opened and looked upwards at him. Zack couldn't help but smile. Cloud's expression was only blank, however.

"Spikey, it's me," Zack said softly. "I got through to you."

Something about the way Cloud looked at him said he didn't believe it. Maybe he thought it was a dream. And maybe that's what it was, but it was a shared dream at the very least.

Zack nodded, gripping him a little tighter. "I don't know how the hell it works, but this is real," he told him. "I'm trying to find you, buddy."

Cloud's eyes widened suddenly and he sat up, pulling away from Zack. "Wait," Zack said, tightening his grip on his friend. Before he could utter another word he was stricken somehow with pain. He didn't know where it was coming from. Until he realized it was coming from Cloud. He felt it everywhere but the worst was in his torso, feeling like he'd been given one monster of a beating. His ribs ached deeply as he breathed. The surprise of it made him feel sick.

From somewhere around them a voice called out, "C4. Wake up C4." It was easily recognizable as Hojo's voice. Fear struck Cloud's expression as he looked ahead at Zack. Something, like some invisible force began pulling him back. Zack hung on to him, holding him as tightly as he could. He could feel the force that was pulling in the opposite direction and it was strong.

"Wait!" Zack begged Cloud. "Stay!"

Cloud shut his eyes tightly as Hojo told him again to wake up. With a pained expression he began to struggle to get out of Zack's hold.

"Cloud-" Zack started but Cloud cut him off.

With his eyes open and staring into Zack's he spoke in a harsh and hurried tone. "Stay away from me, Zack! Don't come for me. Just stay away!" There was deep emotion building in his eyes as he said it. Zack felt his grip slipping but he readjusted it, holding fast.

"No! Spike, I'm not leaving you there!" he protested.

Suddenly, Cloud buckled, yelling out in pain. "Get out," he said before wrenching himself from Zack violently. "GET OUT!" he screamed while he lifted his one leg and kicked Zack back from him. Zack found himself falling away from Cloud a great distance, so great and so fast it shot him back to wakefulness with Lazard looking down at him in concern.

"Zack," the man said with relief in his tone. Zack sat up on the bench seat he'd been lying on. He looked around in confusion, up and down and over his shoulder, trying to get his bearings back. He felt more disoriented than he often felt when waking from a nightmare the past few weeks. _You're in the park_ , he reminded himself. He found himself gripping his side where he could still feel a dull pain pulsating through his ribs. Like ripples in a pond. "Are you alright?" Lazard asked him. "You wouldn't wake up."

"How long was I out?" Zack asked him. It must have been longer than a few minutes.

"I'm not sure," Lazard told him. "You were already out when I found you."

Leaning forward, Zack shut his eyes as he felt like the ground was spinning below him. "I feel like I'm gonna throw up," he groaned.

"What happened?" Lazard asked him.

"I found him," Zack said, opening his eyes again to look up at the man. "I don't know how I did it, or how to do it again—or if I even can, but…I found Cloud." Lazard only looked down at him in silence. "I feel like I could pass out again," Zack informed him as he placed his head in his hands.

"You need to rest," Lazard said softly. "Come on," he urged gently. "I'll get you back home. Based on my own past experiences, I'm confident in telling you I don't think you're going to have a problem sleeping tonight."

000

The sound of Hojo's voice had ripped Cloud away from his encounter with Zack and back into the lab, with the help of someone's hands. Fresh pain in his side had him groaning aloud and grinding his teeth before he'd even opened his eyes. He felt something pressing deeply into the flesh under his rib cage on his left side. He cried out as the pain grew suddenly sharper and his eyes shot open as he tried to raise a hand to the spot. He quickly discovered he was restrained and no longer in his cell. He was strapped down instead to the table in the lab with no memory of being brought there. It must have happened while he was unconscious.

At some point he'd been stripped down but a towel was draped over his waist and the table. His eyes quickly focused on what was currently inflicting him with agony. An ultrasound wand was being pressed into his side, hard enough to remind him of one of the more severe patches of bruising he had sustained from the clones and their fists or feet. The lab doctor was holding the wand. He was watching a monitor next to him.

"How good of you to join us, C4," were Hojo's sarcastic words. Cloud turned his head on the table to look up at the professor to his other side. "Sorry to interrupt your bout of heavy beauty rest but this isn't a vacation," the man snipped. Another sudden stab of pain had Cloud squeezing his eyes shut and exhaling another audible sound of discomfort.

"Don't be dramatic, C4, it's only an ultrasound. I could cut your open instead to see what's going on, if that's what you prefer," Hojo reminded.

"What are you looking for?" Cloud struggled to ask through gritted teeth.

"At the doctor's insistence," he began almost with resentment in his tone, "we're performing an assessment to determine if your soft tissues are in need of any special repair after consecutive days of blunt impact."

Cloud avoided looking at the professor. He thought about those beatings the clones had dealt him every day and something in his expression must have revealed his feelings about them. That he felt Hojo and Rand were to blame.

"Don't give me that look, C4. This is entirely your own doing," Hojo told him. "You could have ended your suffering at any point in time if you weren't so incredibly stubborn."

Cloud felt the pressure on his abdomen lessen as the doctor pulled back the wand.

"Inflammation," the doctor said. "Some swelling and possibly minor bleeding. Doesn't appear critical. Likely one or two cracked ribs. Would need X-rays to confirm but healing can be accomplished without intervention. Continued trauma would delay recovery."

"Oh, I don't think that should be a problem. C4 understands his place I think. Took some time to sink in to his thick head," Hojo commented.

Cloud looked at him straight. "You think you won because you tortured the answers from me that you wanted?" he challenged. "My name is-"

Before he could finish, Hojo clapped one hand over his mouth tightly. The man leaned in close and very seriously he said, "The next thing out of your mouth better be 'C4' or I'll see to it you spend the next month sealed inside that box I know you so love. Okay?"

He tried not to listen but the threat did hit him somewhere. It was more than hate that he felt for that box. He feared the box. He couldn't comprehend how Vincent had seemed to be so comfortable in his own. Living days upon end in confinement so tight it didn't even allow the simplest of stretches.

"Nod so I know we have an understanding," Hojo instructed. Cloud complied after a moment, giving the slightest of nods and earning a grin from the professor. "Good," the man said as he removed his hand from Cloud's face.

Cloud watched then as Hojo gave some instructions to his assistants and they began moving away the ultrasound equipment and rolling a cart and intravenous poll over to the table.

"I must say, C4, your blood mako level is surprisingly moderate given your level of saturation when we were last together," Hojo commented. "The only conclusion I can make is that your body can metabolize a larger amount than I anticipated. Shall I test it out? Give you an infusion of a litre or so? You can take it can't you?"

Cloud let his eyes fall to the side. He was already resigning himself to his fate. Maybe Rand was right. He should just accept and willingly participate in what was going to happen because it would anyway. He was becoming too tired, both physically and mentally, to do anything about it.

"Is that what you want?" Hojo asked him. "Or would you instead like to explain what you did to yourself and my work?"

"What you did almost killed me, more than once," Cloud said bitterly.

"You were bestowed a miracle then. What happened?" Hojo asked with deep interest. "Who or what saved the day?"

Cloud kept his mouth shut. He didn't care much for Galen, but like it or not the man had helped him and it didn't feel right to mention him to Hojo.

Before he knew what was happening, the professor grabbed hold of his left hand and gripped his index finger. Cloud's stomach plummeted hard and his body broke into a cold sweat.

"You remember what agony these little things gave you?" Hojo asked while running the tip of his thumb over Cloud's fingernail. "I appreciate Rand's methods but I also appreciate my own. They may not have lasting effect but they do tend to produce a rather immediate emotional reaction." Hojo pulled back on the nail slightly, not enough to cause any pain and yet Cloud still felt his stomach twist in sudden queasiness and panic.

He exhaled shakily before finally managing to force words from his mouth. "He fixed me. I don't know how," he claimed softly.

"Who?" Hojo inquired.

"Galen," Cloud answered.

Hojo seemed a little surprised. With a short hum he let go of Cloud's hand. "Interesting," he spoke, mostly to himself.

Cloud looked from Hojo to one of the assistants who was hanging a bag from the intravenous pole. There was a milky looking greyish substance inside. The doctor, at Hojo's go-ahead, began preparing Cloud's left arm with an IV line.

"Not to worry, C4, it's not mako, as I'm sure you can tell. Well, not _all_ mako anyhow. Unfortunately, you're in for a long few hours of lying here, but that should give you some time to think about your talk with Rand earlier. I hear it went rather well. Cooperate and I'm sure there will be no problem with your future administrations being delivered in the comfort of your cell," Hojo assured. "Feel free to thank me," he added smugly.

Cloud shook his head. He could only think of Zack then. He didn't know what exactly had happened and how but there was no doubt in his mind that somehow Zack had reached him and made contact on that strange unconscious plane. It confirmed for him that Zack knew what had happened to him and that he was searching for him. Searching because he didn't know where he was, because he apparently wasn't in the mansion. But if he wasn't in the mansion, where was he? Not knowing scared him, but what scared him more was imagining Zack being captured or killed in the process of trying to find him. He couldn't live with knowing something terrible might happen to Zack because of him. He didn't even deserve it after he'd chosen Genesis over him. All because he'd felt betrayed and angry. Because his anger and distrust over-powered his feelings of loyalty to his friends. He chose this for himself. He was going to bear it on his own, but not without shedding some form of emotion.

"I hate you," he said to Hojo.

The man chuckled lightly. "I don't need you to like me, C4," the professor told him. "But I think you're going to learn to want and need my approval."

Cloud felt the wetness of a few tears on the side of his face.

Grinning again, Hojo said "I think I missed your innocent expressions, C4. You have such an active parasympathetic system. I may need to work on that brain of yours. Can't have you crying in the middle of a mission like a pitiful child."

Hojo stepped aside to let his assistant hook the IV fees up to the line now in Cloud's arm.

"What is it?" Cloud asked.

"That which gives you life from now on," Hojo replied almost cryptically. "It may sting a little, but you'll get used to it," the man assured him.


	8. Chapter 8

_Hi friends,_

 _Sorry this took awhile to get out. I have no life outside of work. I don't think I've even had time to turn my computer on more than twice in the last month. Then when I finally did turn it on it took a million hours to update...you know how it is. But I'm on a break from work now and sick in bed so I'm writing and will hopefully get out a few more chapters in the next few weeks. Anyyyyway, thank you for all your reviews. I'm working on replying to them right now, probably as you're reading this chapter. I apologize if I send you more than one reply for the same review, or if I miss sending one. I'm not very good at keeping track these days. Also, if you send in guest reviews you won't get a reply but know that I really appreciate you taking the time to leave some words._

 _Byeee_

~Eight~

After his encounter with Cloud on what Lazard had called "the plane," Zack had barely made it back home before he was overcome by the need to sleep. Lazard had been right. Nothing could have kept him from passing out and into a deep dreamless sleep that he'd been unable to achieve for weeks. Hours had passed by the time he woke again, startled by a sound just outside the bedroom. He looked over at the clock next to the bed fast. It was late. Later than he'd planned to be back at Johnny's warehouse. He urged himself up and headed out to the living area where Aerith was.

"Sorry," she said when she noticed him. She was wiping up something that must have fallen to the floor in the kitchen. "I didn't want to wake you."

"It's okay, I never meant to sleep that long," he told her.

"You could use it," she pointed out and he nodded.

"I know. I need to meet back up with Johnny though."

She looked at him curiously. "What's going on?" she asked. "What happened to you today?"

He rubbed his face with his hands, still feeling groggy. "I'm not even completely sure," he said before confessing the day's events. "I talked to Lazard about a different way to find Cloud."

"Different like…" she inquired while he tried to think of the words to explain.

"Different like, by using Jenova cells," he answered slowly. "Like, you know how he manages to find me when I'm looking to talk to him?" Aerith nodded. "Well, I asked him how. He said it could have to do with the Jenova cells that we were both given during the experiments. Cloud has them too, so I thought maybe I could use them somehow to at least just, talk to him." Before Aerith could respond he went on. "It worked, Aerith. I got through to him. I saw him."

"Where?" was her next question.

"In the park. Well, I was in the park. I still don't know where he is. I don't think he knows either. It wasn't a dream," he told her, not knowing if she had doubts but wanting to extinguish them if so. "It was real."

She watched him as he moved to the couch to sit down a minute.

"Is he okay?" she asked.

"I don't think so," he said, shaking his head. "He told me not to come for him…" his eyes were on the floor as he thought about it but he stared straight at Aerith and added, "You know that's not an option for me, right?"

"I know," she said back softly. She approached him then, standing in front of him and reaching to take his hands in her own. "I promised you that together we would find him and bring him home and I mean it." She averted her eyes momentarily. "I just—I just don't want you to get hurt in the process," she told him.

"I won't—" he started to reassure her.

"You could though!" she argued before lowering herself to her knees, still holding his hands. "You're not invincible, Zack, and I know how much Cloud means to you, but I can't handle losing you again."

When he said nothing back at first she let go of his hands and turned away from him, sitting herself on the floor in front of the couch, with her back against it, next to his one leg. He followed, sliding himself to the floor next to her.

"I love you," he said softly. "You deserve to be told you're the one thing that matters most and I don't want you to think—"

"Stop," she said before he could continue. "You don't know me at all if you believe that's how I feel. Like I could feel jealous or desiring of more attention. You have the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. I just hated the feeling of missing you. I don't ever want to feel that again. That's all."

"It goes both ways," he said to her with a smile. "Except for the jealousy and needing attention part. I have no shame in saying I will _always_ be jealous of anyone who gets your attention." She laughed lightly and he reached a hand up to cup her face gently. He wished he could show her right then how much he loved her, be with her in their bed. Hold her all night. It had been so long, but his conscience wouldn't let him do it.

"I gotta go meet with Johnny," he told her. Her eyes went from where they were focused on his lips to meet his eyes again.

"Why?" she asked. "What are you guys up to?"

"Just working on a possible lead on Cloud's location," he explained a little evasively. "I'll tell you about it later," he assured. He stood up and reached a hand down to help her up.

"Nothing I should be worried about I hope," she said.

"Not at all," he replied. "I'll be gone a few hours."

"Be careful."

"Always," he assured her.

000

"He doesn't know any more about where Strife is," Johnny spoke of Galen when Zack had reached the warehouse. The statement had Zack looking back at him in question.

"What did you do?" he asked, imaging Johnny must have been making good on his threats to Galen while he'd been gone. "I said I wanted to wait," Zack said, not giving Johnny a chance to answer. "His brother shouldn't suffer because he's an asshole!" he pointed out, concerned with the state Dove was probably in now.

"I didn't touch his brother," Johnny told him calmly. "I didn't touch either of them," he added when he couldn't immediately see relief in Zack's expression. "Though, for all Galen knows, I kept my word," he said.

"How do you mean?" Zack inquired. Johnny pulled something up on his phone. A video recording. There were two people in the frame, one was Johnny. The other wasn't really recognizable as his face was covered. All that could be discerned was that it was a man seated in a chair with his hands tied to the arms. It could have been Dove, but it could have been a number of people. He could see by the progress bar that the video was about seven minutes long, though he only viewed the first 30 seconds or so. Just long enough to see Johnny go at one of the man's hands with the blade of a knife. "What is this?" Zack asked, using his hand to push the phone away. "Who was that?"

"Not Galen's brother. After seeing the recording, though, he had a pretty big reaction. I don't think he knows anything else about where to find Strife," Johnny explained.

"You staged the video?" Zack inquired next.

"No," Johnny denied.

"Then who was in the chair?" Zack pushed on.

"It doesn't matter. It was a few months ago," Johnny told him. He could probably read the somewhat shocked expression Zack had. "It was a job," he partly clarified, though it did little to ease Zack's mind. "The guy was a serial rapist," he finally revealed.

It gave Zack a small bit of relief but he couldn't help feeling a little disturbed. He'd done some pretty awful things, himself. He'd tortured. Mailer came to mind immediately, but it was still hard to see someone he cared about committing such an act of violence, even if he'd known Johnny capable of it.

Zack had to shake his head to focus on the real issue at hand, which was Galen. "But the guy in the video's not even dressed in the same clothes as his brother," he pointed out.

"He didn't notice. It's not that surprising. I told him I was going to show him how I keep my promises and he believed it," Johnny told him. "He saw what he feared."

"What about proof?" Zack asked.

"That wasstaged. I know someone who makes some decent props. What does it matter?" Johnny asked again. His tone suggested he was getting irritated, a departure from his normal calm.

"Nothing," Zack told him fast, though he had a hard time looking directly at him.

"You're concerned," Johnny pointed out.

"A little, yeah," Zack admitted frankly, finally looking at him.

"About the things I've done?"

"No," Zack said. "About how you feel about the things you've done," he clarified. He could tell Johnny was annoyed by that comment. He gave a subtle roll of his eyes before turning away from Zack and beginning to walk away from him through the warehouse.

"I have something I need to take care of tonight," he said to Zack. "Should only be gone an hour."

"Wait," Zack called after him. "You don't feel anything when you do harm to someone? When you kill?" he pressed Johnny as he followed. He heard Johnny say 'no' from ahead of him. "Not even when they haven't done anything?" Zack questioned.

"I've been through enough to know people aren't innocent, even if they look it," Johnny said back to him over his shoulder, his pace picking up.

"Stop and talk to me, Six!" Zack shouted at him, jogging a few steps to catch up. He reached out and grabbed hold of Johnny's shoulder tightly. Immediately halting, Johnny turned toward him and Zack found his back suddenly hitting a stack of crates that had been next to them. In that same moment, it seemed, he found himself looking down the barrel of one of Johnny's guns. He'd never seen someone draw a gun that fast. In a single second he could have been dead and it never would have registered in his head what had happened. It took that much time for Johnny's dark eyes to transform back to man from machine, changing in a single blink.

"Sorry," was all he said, his tone emotionless, as he lowered his gun again and turned away from Zack, leaving him to try and figure out what had just happened. He took a few minutes to process it all. He didn't want to leave things with Johnny that way but he didn't want to push him further than he already had. Instead he went to see Galen.

He wasn't sure what he expected to see when he opened the door to the room Galen was being kept in. First thing he saw when he entered was the man still cuffed to the chair in the room but he was no longer upright. The chair was on its side and facing away from the door. As he neared, he could see a little smeared blood on the concrete floor. He saw where it had come from when he stepped in front of Galen and looked down at him. The man must have attempted to pull his hands free of the cuffs or the chair, causing damage to his wrists in the process. Zack knew the damage caused from such an attempt. It was how he'd gotten some of the scarring on his own wrists, products of escaping one of the experimentation chairs in Hojo's lab.

Zack looked at Galen's face then, and was a little surprised to see it looked as though he'd been crying at some point. His skin and eyes were reddened. He looked generally worn out, exhausted of any emotion he did have. Zack reached down to grasp hold of the chair and set it and Galen back upright.

"Isn't it fun?" Zack asked him then. "That feeling of helplessness? Your life and the life of someone you care about being in someone else's hands."

Galen glared up at him. "You won't get any empathy from me," he declared. "You mean nothing to me."

"But your brother does?" Zack spoke challengingly. "You tried to expose him to mako once, right?" he said, recalling what Dove had told him. Galen looked back at him with a bit of shock in his expression.

"What'd you do to him to get him to tell you that?" he asked then.

"Nothing," Zack told him. "Dove's a good guy. Very much unlike you. He's fine, by the way. You were tricked into thinking otherwise."

There was hope in Galen's eyes but still he said, "I don't believe you. Let me see him."

Zack shook his head. "No. You want to see him you'll have to cooperate."

Galen groaned in frustration. "I can't help you!" he shouted angrily. "I've never been to Hojo's other facilities. I don't know who works there, I have no connection to that man and his research anymore!"

"I believe you," Zack said finally. "But, you see, you're still the reason Hojo got his hands on Cloud again."

"That was Genesis," the man argued, shaking his head.

"Yeah, and you're responsible for bringing them together, aren't you?" Zack shot back at him.

"So then kill me and get it over with!" he yelled up at Zack. "You want to. For this, for the years you were in the mansion. But it won't help Strife."

Zack nodded slowly. "I know that," he said in return, his voice quiet. "And I do want to kill you. But I can't. Your value outweighs my hatred for you."

"How?" Galen inquired.

"You're going to show me everything that you showed Cloud. All the files and the video footage from the mansion. I want to see everything he saw."

The man's eyes narrowed a little at that. "And then what?" he asked.

"You're going to get comfortable here in this room, because you're going to be here for however long it takes me to get Cloud back from Hojo, and I _will_ get him back," Zack told him. "I don't know what condition he'll be in…how much mako Hojo will have doused him with by that point. But, you fixed Cloud once, somehow, and you're going to do it again if he needs it. Then maybe, one day you'll get the chance at having your freedom back." Zack walked away from him towards the door. "You have nothing but time now. I suggest you use it to think up anything that could help in finding Cloud. Holler if you have any bright ideas."


	9. Chapter 9

~Nine~

Hojo's last remark on the discomfort Cloud would have from the mystery liquid being fed into his arm was of course understated. The pain of whatever he was administered was considerable, yet not unbearable. It took nearly three hours for the completion of the administration. When the milky substance had entered his blood stream he first only felt a burning sensation under the skin of his arm. There was also the subtle indicator of mako. The crawling feeling like insects burrowing in his flesh. But as the time dragged on he began to feel achy all over, a feeling that seeped into his joints and chilled him to the bone. It was a feeling that had him wanting to writhe and hold his own limbs tightly. It made him restless, like he needed to pace to relieve the feeling. He could only strain in his bonds instead.

The cold feeling grew to be painful on its own. He associated drugs with feeling hot and feverish but in this case he felt so cold he actually broke down and asked one of the assistants if he could cover his exposed skin with something. He was a little shocked when his request was granted. A blanket was brought out from a cabinet and draped over him. It didn't help to relieve the back of his body of the cold from the metal exam table but he would take what he could get. His mind had latched on to the comment Hojo had made about future administrations of the grey milk being given in his cell if he behaved. He didn't want to do anything that Hojo wanted of him but he couldn't take the torture of being restrained in the lab for hours at a time. It brought so many feelings for him and a few brief segments of memories he had left. He forced himself not to think of Zack, of what had occurred right before he'd woken up in the lab. The strange experience that he didn't understand or know if he should believe was real or not.

He'd kept his eyes on the bag containing the liquid that was hanging from the IV pole by his side. Watched it empty one drop at a time. Only minutes after the bag had completely emptied, Hojo returned to the lab. The professor seemed to take pause at seeing the blanket that was covering him.

"Colson," he said over his shoulder and his assistant approached. Cloud hadn't really looked at the assistant until then. He was young, not unlike assistants the professor had had in the past. Fresh college graduate. "Did you do this?" Hojo asked.

"What, professor?" the assistant asked back, glancing at Cloud briefly.

Hojo took hold of the end of the blanket and whipped it back and off of Cloud, exposing him to the lab air again. "This," he said.

"Oh," Colson replied. "Yes, sir," he admitted.

"Why?" Hojo questioned as he thrust the blanket into the assistants hands.

"I asked for it," Cloud spoke up to Hojo's surprise. He wasn't sure what made him speak for the assistant. He hadn't had time to think about it.

"He asked for it," Colson said after him.

"I'm not deaf," Hojo snapped back. "Did you note the time?"

Colson looked back at him a little confused. "The…time?"

"That you covered him?" Hojo clarified.

"No, professor," the assistant said.

"Next time you decide to alter a procedure I've put in place, I'd like you to at least note the time of it. Are you new to the experimental process?"

"No, sir, sorry. It won't happen again," Colson assured him.

"Good," Hojo said. "Go get Peter, please. C4 is going to need assistance."

As the assistant departed, Hojo turned his attention to Cloud. He moved to the side of the exam table and started to remove the IV feed, leaving the needle still inserted in Cloud's arm.

"Already working your charms, I see," Hojo commented with a smirk.

"What?" Cloud said back.

"It won't work this time, C4," the professor told him. "You're not going to be able to convince one of my employees to liberate you from this place. No matter how many tears you shed. Bargains you try to make. There's no sympathetic enforcer or doctor this time around. No one to sacrifice their life for you." Hojo smiled and went on. "Syrus. Doctor Marsh," he said. "There were serious consequences for their actions, as there will be for anyone who ever betrays me like that again," the man warned. "You should think carefully before you try to jeopardize the lives of any of my current employees, C4." Cloud looked away from him and Hojo began to release the restraints on his arms and legs.

"What no goons to assist you?" Cloud asked him when his left arm was free. "No clones to keep me from killing you right here and now?" he added, looking hard at the man again. It did enter into his mind to make a move on Hojo the moment he was free to do so. It may have been his one chance to help himself. Hojo chuckled aloud at his words.

"And what an impressive feat that would be," the professor laughed.

He didn't know why the man had found his threat so entertaining until he was told he could get off the exam table and go back to his cell. He tried to dismiss the attempts of the two assistants to aid him until he'd tried to stand up and found himself unable to do so. The aching in his joints and muscles became unbearable when he put weight on them, finding him falling to the floor where he found his arms just as useless to him.

"W-what did you do to me?" Cloud struggled to speak through the now throbbing pain throughout his body.

"Permanent nerve damage," Hojo replied without missing a beat. He laughed at his own comment and one of the assistants chuckled with him. When Cloud looked up at Hojo he could see the man wasn't serious. He hardly found the remark to be funny. "The mobility side-effects should be short-lived," Hojo told him, nodding to his assistants to help get Cloud to his feet.

Together they helped him to his cell, which he saw for the first time from the lab looking in. He was able to see that the glass at the front slid aside on a track. Once he was sitting on the bed in his cell, one of the assistants disappeared momentarily and returned with his clothing.

"Do consider leaving the IV needle in your arm alone," Hojo spoke to him from just inside the cell. "You're going to be receiving daily transfusions. It's easier for my assistants and you if it stays in. Of course I don't expect you to listen. In the end it doesn't make a difference. It's up to you. You can have your childish rebellion by removing it. Remove it and try to repurpose it in some way, however, and you'll suffer for it. I promise it." Cloud almost found himself nodding in understanding, if only to get the man away from him faster. "Dinner will be brought in an hour. Goodnight, C4," the professor said before turning his back on Cloud.

Cloud watched as Hojo and his assistants exited his cell and the glass door was slid closed, shutting out all sound from the lab. A moment later the curtain had covered the glass, leaving him in isolation once more to sit alone in pain, seemingly one of the only constants in that place. By the time the dinner tray had been slid under the cell door the worst effects of the substance he'd been given had worn off, at least those that were affecting his muscles and joints. He felt generally nauseous after that, even vomiting a few times, possibly from the mako in the compound. There was a lasting achiness throughout his body and he felt heavy from head to toe.

He could make himself get dressed and he could make himself use the bathroom but he couldn't make himself eat so he lay in bed instead, watching the minutes pass on the clock in the wall. He thought about what Hojo had said, about him jeopardizing the lives of the people working for the professor. He thought about Syrus and Marsh, or at least what he could remember and what he knew of them from what he'd read in the lab notes and files. Two people who apparently had tried to help him and Zack in the past and had paid with their lives. People had died because of them. For them. He wasn't ever going to let that happen again. There would be no more sacrifices or risks made for him so long as he had control of it. Not by anyone.

At 9 pm he heard the familiar click of one of the speakers as it came on. He knew what was coming but he didn't want to believe it. As that familiar voice asked what his name was he found his mind racing with thoughts. He'd given in to those questions in that room of coffins. He didn't expect to find himself forced to give those answers to the questions again. Did hearing the questions now mean that if he didn't answer the clones would return in the morning, ready to haul him out to the metal room for a beating?

He would find out what it meant because he said nothing in response to those three tormenting questions. He barely slept that night, though he was exhausted. His anxiety and the lingering pain in his body kept him tossing and turning in the darkness. Every so often he'd look up at the clock, seeing it drawing nearer and nearer to 6 am.

At 6 the lights clicked on in the cell and just as he'd feared the door the cell was unlocked and opened. A clone entered the cell and Cloud's body broke into a sweat immediately. He could feel the pain from the clone's fists impacting his rib cage and it hadn't even happened yet. He found himself screaming in protest as he fought with the clone trying to drag him from his bed. He felt his shield breaking in that moment. All the stubbornness of his will couldn't make him endure that process another day longer. As he was pulled to the floor finally and the clone began dragging his body toward the metal room he shouted up at the camera in the ceiling above him.

"WAIT! My name is C4!" he cried out as loudly as he could. He didn't know where the microphones in the room were, or if anyone would even be listening. The clone certainly hadn't stopped hauling him away. "I belong to Shinra! Shinra's home! PLEASE! I'm C4!"

It wasn't working. It must have been too late. He found himself out of his cell and in the metal room where he reverted to his defense mechanism, pulling his knees into his body and covering his head as well as he could. He'd already begun counting, reaching a count of seven before realizing he hadn't been hit yet. A hand took hold of his left arm instead and pulled him to his feet. The same clone who'd violently torn him from his cell was putting him back into it. He sank to the floor in shock when the cell door closed and he was left alone again. He shook with falling adrenaline and suddenly found himself crying with the realization he'd avoided being beaten. He was so relieved that he couldn't have cared less what the cost of it had been.

The guilt and shame came soon enough and deepened when he was lying in his bed, an IV pole beside him, his eyes following more of that greyish milky substance as it entered his bloodstream through a tube. When the time for the transfusion had come, the curtain over the glass of his cell had been drawn back, the glass panel slid open, and Hojo had come to ask him if he was going to accept the procedure without needing restraint. Feeling down from earlier, he agreed to compliance. It meant the difference between the cold exam table and the semi-comfort of his bed with blankets he could huddle under as refuge from the effects of the transfusion.

He didn't speak again until 9 pm that night when he was asked his three questions. That night, for the first time since he'd been trapped in that cell he answered each of the questions immediately upon being asked. _C4_. _Shinra_. _Home_. He didn't think as he spoke. He'd already thought enough up to that point. He was going to go crazy if he had to go on enduring those beatings and for the time being, at least, he needed his mind intact, if he had any hope of surviving.

The following morning there were no clones. Just the shower that came on at 7 and his breakfast that was pushed under the door. He slept through the rest of the morning and into the afternoon until it was time for another transfusion. Following that, there was nothing left in the day but dinner, the question period, and more sleep. He had quickly fallen into a new routine with the only difference being no clone beatings. By the fourth day things changed though. He had made big plans that day like the ones before it to sleep the rest of the morning after breakfast but his plans were interrupted at around 10 when Rand made an unexpected visit to his cell. He came in through the door at the back of the cell, from the metal room. He entered carrying something that roughly resembled a briefcase in his one hand and a folding chair in the other.

"Good morning, C4," Rand greeted him before opening the chair and setting it next to the bed, facing him. Cloud forced himself to sit up slowly, watching as the man transformed the briefcase in front of him into a small table with retractable legs. He unclipped a lid on top and pulled from inside what looked like a small folding chess board and a bunch of game pieces. "You play chess?" Rand asked him and he shook his head. In fact he'd never played, nor learned to play. He sure didn't want to learn right then.

"What do you want?" Cloud asked him as he took off his long leather coat, the same Cloud had seen him wearing previously, and draped it over the back of the chair he'd brought with him.

"A game, I thought that was obvious," the man replied smoothly. He unbuttoned the sleeves of his black dress shirt at the wrists and began rolling them up towards his elbows. "You need stimulation. Your brain suffers without it."

"So," Cloud challenged. "Won't that only help you and Hojo in your goal?"

Rand smiled without looking at him, working on setting up the chess pieces on the board between them.

"I thought I made it pretty clear I'd prefer you not be mindless," he said back.

"I'm not interested in playing games," Cloud stated firmly, lying himself back down and turning away from Rand toward the wall.

"That's fine," Rand told him. "We can talk instead. We'll be good friends in no time," he said surely.

A half hour later, Cloud found himself staring down at the chess board, trying to remember what game piece did what. When the game had first started he'd simply made random moves with the pieces, not caring in the least, but Rand had told him he wasn't leaving until he played seriously. The thought of being trapped playing chess all day was enough of a torture to make him obey.

"Starting tomorrow," Rand spoke suddenly, almost startling him, "Between eight and ten in the morning you will have access to the fitness room," the man told him.

"You gonna make me run on a treadmill for two hours?" Cloud asked without looking at him. He was thinking back on that routine he and Zack and been forced into previously.

"If that's what you want," Rand replied and Cloud did raise his eyes to look at him then. The man readjusted his dark-framed glasses he'd put on before their game had started but he didn't meet Cloud's eyes. He reached forward and moved one of his game pieces instead.

"What I want?" Cloud repeated his words bitterly.

Rand hummed in confirmation. "There is a variety of equipment in the room. You can use whatever you wish. I don't know that I'd peg you for a cardio enthusiast, though," he added with a grin.

"What if I don't want to use any of it?" Cloud questioned sharply.

Rand shrugged. "Then your body and mind suffer," he said simply.

"That's it?" Cloud asked.

"That's it?" Rand echoed with a little incredulity. "What would you be without your body and mind?" he asked. Cloud said nothing.

The following day, when his cell door clicked itself open at 8 am, out of sheer boredom he walked his way out through the metal room to that hallway on the other side. Once out there, he could see the second door to his left was open and a light was on but he still took the time to check that door that he knew led to the coffin room and Vincent. Just in case. He hadn't forgotten about Vincent, nor was he likely to as long as he was locked in that place.

When he'd finally entered the fitness room he took a slow walk around the equipment. He considered using some of it but really couldn't see the point. He would just be helping Shinra make him into whatever the company and Hojo wanted him to be. It did occur to him the possibility Hojo would just force him to exercise. He had before. But Rand had said it was up to him. If that was true, he was taking a stand. He wasn't going to do anything they didn't make him do. He was choosing compliance over willingness. That was his decision. He just had to bear the weight of it now.


	10. Chapter 10

~Ten~

"So you told him we're keeping him here?" Johnny asked Zack almost in confusion. Johnny had just gotten back to the warehouse and they were discussing Galen.

"Is that a problem?" Zack asked back and Johnny exhaled forcefully.

"Well, it could be," Johnny told him. "I assume you want him alive. That means _keeping_ him alive. Food, water. We also don't know if anyone's looking for him and his brother. And I don't want to think of this anymore than you do but what happens if it takes longer to find Cloud than you're hoping. You were gone for four years before."

"I know how long we were gone," Zack snapped at him. "No one was looking for us." That wasn't entirely true. Kunsel had been looking for them for the first year they were gone.

Johnny shook his head. "Regardless, you can't just keep someone locked up for what could turn into years all on the chance they turn out useful at some point in time," Johnny scolded him.

"You can't?" Zack challenged angrily.

"Well. I'm not," Johnny stated firmly. "So if this is what you want then you're going to have to find someplace else to keep him." He turned away from Zack, beginning to walk away. Zack followed.

"I don't get you, Six," he called after him. "You'll torture people. Kill indiscriminately. Pull a gun on a friend, but you won't do this."

Johnny stopped and faced Zack again. "I'm sorry about that. Sometimes…I just react before I can…"

"What?" Zack asked. Johnny's eyes were on the floor. He shook his head as if shaking his thoughts away.

"I can't help you keep someone prisoner. I just can't. I'm sorry. Take the rest of the night to decide what you want to do," he instructed. "Go home. I won't do anything to Galen and his brother. I'll just be here. You can tell me what you've decided later in the morning."

Reluctantly, Zack complied. He went back to the apartment where he got into bed next to Aerith. He lay for a few moments with his hands behind his head, resting on his pillow, before Aerith stirred. She turned toward him, moving herself closer and placing her head on his chest. She reached her one arm around him and hugged his body tightly. Slowly, he lowered his arms, wrapping them around her and holding her back. He only wanted to think of her but he couldn't keep himself from thinking of Cloud, the way he'd held onto him in the past. He thought of Cloud lying alone now. In a cell somewhere, cold.

"Are you okay?" Aerith whispered to him in the darkness.

"Johnny and I have been holding a man and his brother hostage in his warehouse," he said back. She said nothing at first but after a moment she propped herself up on her elbow next to him and looked at him straight.

"Are you serious?" she asked and he nodded. He turned onto his side to face her.

"It's Galen. Hojo's lead assistant from the mansion, the one who took Cloud and brought him to Genesis," he explained. "Johnny found him, thought maybe we could get information out of him as to where Cloud could be."

"Did you?" she asked, surprising him a little. He had expected her to give some sort of disapproval first.

"He said he doesn't know where Hojo has Cloud because he doesn't work for him anymore, but he showed us on a map the approximate location of one of Hojo's other labs. One where Cloud could be," he told her.

"Where is it?" she asked almost hopefully.

"Gongaga," he answered before rolling himself back onto his back and staring up at the ceiling.

"That was all he knew?" Aerith inquired quietly and he nodded slowly. "What are you going to do with him?" was her following question, spoken with some apprehension.

"Pretty sure Johnny thinks we should just get rid of him and his brother," Zack told her with a bit of a shrug.

"What do you think?"

"I thought it might be a good idea to keep Galen around awhile. He cured Cloud of his mako sickness. Figured he could do it again if Cloud needs it when we have him back," he revealed truthfully. "Johnny isn't willing to do that though. Said he wouldn't help me keep someone prisoner."

"Is that really something _you_ could do, Zack?" Aerith asked him, studying his expression critically. "After what you've been through? Knowing what that was like?"

He hadn't really thought about it until then. He wondered if it made him a bad person that he could imagine doing something like that to another person. That even though it had been a terrorizing experience for him and Cloud, he could still inflict that on another person. Johnny must have felt differently. Why was that? It hit him then that his experience was different than Cloud's, than Johnny's. He'd had the opportunity to escape the mansion but he'd chosen to stay because he refused to leave Cloud behind. He knew very few details about Johnny's experience in captivity but he was confident Johnny wouldn't have stayed if he'd had the opportunity to get away. He wasn't sure that was the entire reason for Johnny opposing his views but maybe it had something to do with it.

"I don't think I can just kill them, Aerith," he confessed. "Galen's brother hasn't done anything. He took care of Cloud when they had him. That's what he said anyway. And Galen…I hate to admit it but he may have saved Cloud's life. I just…I don't know what to do."

"I'd be worried if you weren't having a hard time trying to figure it out," Aerith spoke softly to him as she ran a hand over his chest soothingly.

"Can't kill them. Can't keep them," Zack sighed, placing his hand over Aerith's gently.

"Let them go," she suggested and he let out a dry laugh before looking at her to see if she was serious. She was.

"What if they call the police and send them after us?" he asked her.

"Did Johnny let them know where he was taking them? Would they know where the warehouse is?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Probably not, knowing him." He raised an eyebrow as he thought of it. "You think this is a good idea?"

"I don't want you saddled with more guilt than you already live with," she told him. He smiled back at her.

"You're pretty smart, you know that?" he said.

"Yeah…you aren't too dumb either," she joked. "Most of the time." He laughed in return. "Maybe the Turks have some information about that lab in Gongaga," she suggested after a moment. "Maybe Reno—"

Zack gave her a stern look. "He's useless now that he's not working for them."

"I could try contacting Tseng," she offered, drawing a grimace from him.

"Or I could," he countered.

"Or Kunsel could," she said. "You should talk to him. It's been awhile."

"You're right," he told her, then a thought entered his head. "How do you know?" he asked and she hummed in question back. "How do you know how long it's been since I talked to him?" he clarified. "Have you been talking to him?" He waited for her answer but she kept quiet, only moving herself from where she was next to him and shifting herself over him, moving her hair from where it cascaded into her face so she could kiss him. "Aerith," he started to speak and she shushed him gently before placing her lips on his. She placed kisses on the bare skin of his chest. He let her go as far as his stomach before he was stopping her.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I think—"

"It's okay," she whispered back. "You have to trust me, Zackary Fair," she told him. He knew he had to do what she was asking. Not because she wanted him to or because he ultimately wanted to, but because something about it felt like the right thing to do in that moment. For weeks he hadn't been able to turn his brain off and it was messing with his mind, body, and emotions. He needed to get away from that constant feeling of helplessness. He needed something good, something real to light his way, if only for the night.


	11. Chapter 11

~Eleven~

It didn't take long for Rand to catch on to what Cloud was doing. From the second day that Cloud had made his 'stand' and decided to only be a compliant 'participant' and not so much a willing one, it had been apparent to the Keeper what his plan was. The tip-off may have been Cloud refusing most of the food he was given in addition to choosing not to take advantage of the fitness room. Rand confronted him when he'd come in to the room for another round of chess that Cloud could care less about. The man informed him he knew what he was up to and warned him it wasn't going to be looked upon favourably by Hojo. Cloud had only shrugged at the comment. He waited for Hojo to come give his own opinion on the matter but he didn't see the professor for nearly two weeks. He assumed it meant Hojo was not in the vicinity. When Hojo finally did return to the lab he reacted predictably. With insults.

"C4, you're fading away," he remarked. "I don't think I've seen you so pathetic. A starving dog is more worthy of care. You look like you should be brought behind the barn and shot."

Cloud didn't know how much of his body mass he'd loss since being brought back to the lab. Even prior to being captured again he hadn't been in the best condition. When he thought about it now, he was probably at his best when he was in the army. He couldn't remember it but he imagined they would have made sure he was as strong as he could be. Now he felt the way Hojo described him looking. There were no mirrors for him to see what he looked like and really he never bothered to look at himself, but he felt thin. He felt sick. Weak. Stress had been consuming him as he'd starved himself. In all likelihood the substance he'd been given every day through IV was just as Hojo said. The thing that was giving him life. He didn't feel he'd still be functioning without it. He learned shortly after an assessment by Hojo that he'd lost close to twenty-five pounds since his capture.

"Why are you doing this to yourself, C4?" Hojo asked him. "It's so pointless," he added. "You'd be useless against an enemy."

"Good," Cloud replied. "You can't make me fight willingly for you," he told the professor.

Hojo smirked back at him. "No but I can make you fight for yourself." Cloud looked back at him, trying to decipher his meaning. "I'll make you want to fight, C4. I'll show you how desperately you need to get yourself together and stop whatever sad excuse for a protest this is. You're going to regret making yourself so helpless."

Cloud could see in Hojo's eyes that whatever idea he had it was something sadistic. He'd be fooling himself if he thought he shouldn't be worried. He found himself being forced from his cell by a clone and one of the lab assistants and being brought through the lab and out into a narrow hallway. Through another door at the end of the hall he found himself in a small room facing what looked like a set of elevator doors. The elevator took him downward, how far down he wasn't sure. There were no 'floors' listed on the panel inside the elevator. Just a few buttons with symbols on them. He watched the assistant use a key to unlock the panel to operate the elevator and wondered if the same elevator could also take him to freedom if he could get a hold of that key.

When the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, he found himself being shoved out into a room similar to what he'd been led through to get to the elevator. He turned back to see the elevator doors closing, leaving him alone in the room. He looked around it briefly. There was a camera in the ceiling and a set of double doors opposite to where he was standing. He was apprehensive about moving forward to find out what lay beyond the doors but the anticipation of what was coming was what forced him to meet whatever fate was coming for him.

He half expected to see a battle arena on the other side of the doors. A place where he'd be pitted against various opponents using a bunch of different weapons. His imagination couldn't come up with much more. It certainly didn't come up with what he was confronted with instead. On the other side of the doors was what reminded him of a lobby at a hotel, and a nice one at that. There were plush velvet couches. Rich dark wallpapered walls and an intricately woven area rug over dark stained hardwood. There were huge gold-coloured wooden doors at the one end of the room and to his left side. The room was almost an overload on his senses after so many weeks of seeing the same things. The same white and grey coloured walls and floors. He couldn't stop staring but something in his gut was telling him to turn back. Unfortunately, by the time he'd turned around and tried the handle on the door he'd just walked through, he found it locked. Both of the double doors were.

"Cloud," he heard his name said from somewhere behind him. It startled him and he turned fast to see who it was. He hadn't heard his real name said since he'd had that strange encounter with Zack weeks before. He was shocked to see who was looking at him from the doorway to his left, the man holding a cane he remembered but not leaning on it the way he'd been when they were last together.

"Genesis," Cloud said his name back. Emotions were fast to overtake him as the man left the doorway to approach him. He felt his face getting hot with a mixture of anger and despair. The last time he'd seen Genesis the man was walking away from him, leaving him to be descended upon by those who worked for Hojo. "You," Cloud spoke as he backed away from Genesis, the man trying to close the distance between them fast. "You betrayed me," Cloud fired at him.

"I know," Genesis agreed as he glanced toward the other set of golden doors in the room. "Please, be quiet," he pleaded but Cloud barely heard his command.

"You were the only person left that I trusted," he said as he felt hot tears beginning to fall from his eyes. He pushed Genesis back from him as he found himself backed up against the one wall and the man had finally reached him.

"I know but I'm not your enemy here!" Genesis said back as he dropped his cane to put a hand on each of Cloud's arms and push him against the wall. "You must contain yourself and be quiet," he spoke harshly while forcing Cloud toward the floor. Once sitting, his back still tight to the wall, with Genesis crouched in front of him, the man spoke again in a hushed tone before he could say anything. "I'm selfish, Cloud," he told him. "There are very few people I've ever cared for." The man glanced again across the room as if checking something. "I'm remorseful for my decision to betray you," he told Cloud.

"Why?" Cloud snapped. "Because you're imprisoned now?" he asked bitingly. Genesis wasn't looking at him though and didn't seem to have heard what he said. His eyes were locked on those large wooden doors across the room "What?" Cloud questioned.

"He knows you're here," Genesis uttered with dread in his tone. Slowly, he started to bring himself to a stand.

"Who?" Cloud asked from the floor. He was looking where Genesis was, at the doors that were now opening. From across the room, he beheld the sight of something he couldn't make sense of but simultaneously felt fear of. The man was towering, even from the other side of the room. He felt like he was looking at him for the first time. Like some sort of impressive and terrifying mirage. "What?" Cloud found himself uttering as his breath slowed and his pulse quickened.

The man's green eyes were on him, boring into him. "I knew it was you," he said as he let go of the door handles still held in his gloved palms and took the first of several long strides toward him and Genesis.

"Sephiroth—" Genesis said, trying to gain his attention, standing in front of Cloud, who tried to bring himself to a stand next to the wall. Genesis had taken his cane into his hand once more and stood in a protective stance while holding his free hand out toward Sephiroth.

"Stand aside, Genesis," Sephiroth ordered. "I can go through you if I have to," the man warned in his deep and commanding voice.

"How are you alive?" Cloud questioned from behind Genesis.

Sephiroth looked at him with disgust. "I'm not living," he said back, his tone sharp and laced with bitterness. "I'm but a prisoner, thanks to you."

"You killed my mother!" Cloud shot back at him with anger and anguish in his tone. "Destroyed my home! You tried to kill me too!"

The man gave something of a coy smile and turned his eyes on Genesis. "I didn't do it alone," he said, making Cloud look at Genesis also. Genesis met his inquiring gaze and his expression was telling.

"No," Cloud uttered in horror while looking up at him, shaking his head.

"Cloud—" Genesis began to speak but he cut him off fast.

"It's true, isn't it?" Cloud asked weakly.

"Of course it's true," Sephiroth interrupted. As he came toward them Genesis took hold of Cloud's one arm and moved him, keeping him behind him as he tried to move them towards the doorway leading to his personal rooms.

"Sephiroth! Don't!" Genesis warned.

"You don't want to fight me, Genesis. You won't win!" the man shouted as he used his foot to kick away a coffee table in the centre of the room.

"You can't do this to him! He's weak right now. It's not a fair fight!" Genesis fired at him but the words angered Cloud, who saw that Genesis had his sword on him. Reaching for the hilt he managed to pull it from its scabbard and he aimed it in Sephiroth's direction while distancing himself from Genesis.

"Cloud, stop!" Genesis warned.

"You want to kill me so bad, come and try," Cloud dared the former general. Sephiroth smiled back at him, chuckling a little under his breath.

"What?" Cloud snapped at him, wondering what he found so funny.

"I don't want to see you dead, Cloud, not yet." Sephiroth told him as he paced in front of him slowly. "I want you at my feet. On your knees. Bowing before me."

"Never," Cloud said back, tightening his grip on the sword in his hand. Though he didn't want to feel it, its weight was almost too much for him. He knew this is what Hojo wanted to show him. He couldn't hold a sword, he couldn't face an opponent in battle. He knew he wouldn't get off much more than a couple swings at Sephiroth. He tried anyway. The man was so much faster than he remembered. Stronger. Angrier. Fueled by hatred. He'd also never faced Sephiroth in a true match before. He would find out now what that was like.

Despite protests and attempts by Genesis to intervene, and despite Cloud's pathetic excuse for an attempt at an offensive attack with Genesis's sword, Genesis was thrown aside easily and Cloud was disarmed in a single blow that found him face down on that elaborately patterned area rug. With a hand holding his right ankle in a crushing grip, he was pulled across the floor forcefully, and drug by Sephiroth through that doorway from which the former general had appeared. The heavy gold covered wooden doors slammed shut ahead of his fingertips, separating him from Genesis and trapping him into whatever nightmare was awaiting him with Sephiroth.


	12. Chapter 12

_Hey friends. Here's the follow-up to the last cliffhanger with another one lol. I can tell there's been some suspense if the traffic to Chapter 11 is any indication. You guys are so quiet though. Makes me kind of nervous XD but unless I hear otherwise I'll assume you're having a good time coming back to read. Anyway, **trigger warning** **(definitely M-rated)** for this chapter, which is probably not a surprise to you given how the last chapter finished. I'm not going to tell you what to watch out for because I think everyone here is pretty familiar with my writing and you know what content I'm capable of throwing at you. Thank you to all my reviewers of the last chapter and to all who recently added the story and/or me to your follow and fav lists. I'm still replying to reviews to Chapter 11 so if you haven't heard from me that's why. _

_Until the next chapter..._

~Twelve~

"Welcome to my cellblock," Sephiroth said as he let go of Cloud's ankle to lock the large doors in front of them. The man reached down to turn Cloud over onto his back before gripping his shirt in his fists and hauling him up from the floor. "You don't know how many times I've imagined this very moment," he told Cloud before throwing him towards a nearby wall. His back hit the wall hard, sending shocks of pain through his ribcage. He tried to keep himself from collapsing to the floor completely but it didn't make a difference. Sephiroth's gloved fist impacting his face sent him back down to his knees. The single punch had split his bottom lip. The taste of blood filled his mouth while he raised a hand to his face, catching a few red droplets in his palm. "I can see this isn't going to be much of a fight," Sephiroth remarked as he unbuttoned his long black coat and slid it down his arms to remove it.

"Why fight at all?" Cloud threw back at him. "Hojo put you here, not me."

The man chuckled as he came toward him again, raising a booted foot to strike him. Cloud anticipated the blow and grabbed hold of his foot before Sephiroth could make contact. The action earned him a smirk from the man before he yanked his boot free of Cloud's shaky hold. The force of it pulled Cloud forward a little. He wasn't able to block the second attempt by Sephiroth to kick him, the toe of his leather-clad foot landing in his gut and pulling a groan of pain from him.

"Wrong!" Sephiroth argued. "Mother and I would have been clear across the continent before anyone made it up to that smoking pile of rubble if you hadn't interfered. You and that other little worm, Fair."

"It's not like it worked out all great for us either!" Cloud gasped out as he tried to catch his breath, finally managing to rise to his feet. "Hojo had us captive for four years, and not in some fancy place like this." He gestured around the room as he spoke. "He experimented on us, tortured us, turned us into—"

"What?" Sephiroth challenged. "Monsters?"

Cloud shook his head a little. "You're the reason both of us are here now." He felt tears coming on suddenly that he wished he could withhold. The last thing he wanted was to cry in front of the man. "You could have just left Nibelheim. You didn't have to do what you did. All those people…"

Sephiroth eyed him almost curiously, as if the emotions Cloud had were foreign to him. They may have been. There was no way of telling. "Of course I didn't have to, you child. I _wanted_ to," he told Cloud, who was at a loss for words. He could only stare back at Sephiroth in apprehension as the man closed the short distance between them and placed his hands on the wall on either side of him. "I've been so very, very bored down here," he spoke in an eerily soft voice. "Please tell me you're going to at least try to make it difficult for me to do all the things I've wanted to do to _you_." Cloud only glared back at him until Sephiroth's head dipped toward his, making him turn away in discomfort. "Or do you want to just get on your knees right now?"

Sephiroth took his right hand from the wall to place it on the top of Cloud's head. As he applied pressure and pushed downward, Cloud shook his head out of his grasp and shoved the man back from him.

"I told you I'm never doing that!" he shouted at the former general. "I'd never kneel to a murderer like you," he seethed.

"Oh, Cloud," Sephiroth practically cooed. "By the time I'm done with you, you won't even be able to hold your pathetic form upright," he told him.

Cloud knew he was far outmatched by Sephiroth in every way. Strength, size, ability, and experience. Even at his best, he still felt it a fluke he was ever able to overcome the man's attack on him in the Nibelheim reactor. His best chance was to practice avoidance and defense tactics, which was difficult to do without anything to protect himself. He wasn't about to give up, but he wasn't so stupid to think the man wouldn't eventually bring him down. He expected a brutal, bloody onslaught from the former general and that's exactly what he got. From the room he was dragged into, into an adjoining one where it was evident the man slept, and back again where at least once he tried to get to those doors that would lead back to Genesis. It had crossed his mind that if he could get out there, he might be able to get some protection from Genesis. He reminded himself though that the man had given him up once before to save himself and Sephiroth had warned Genesis he wouldn't let him get in the way of what he wanted.

While he tried to fend off attack from the man who towered over him like a black and silver god with the broken leg of a chair, he felt himself weakening, his lungs aching, his muscles cramping. He had allowed himself to waste away to the point of being the likes of a child. He knew Sephiroth had been toying with him too, enjoying the fight. The chase. He didn't want it over too soon, but it did come to an end.

Though exhausted and panting, his body covered in sweat, soaking his shirt and sweater that he would have loved to take off, he managed a hit to the man with the chair leg that drew blood. He'd cracked the ex-general across his left cheek and the one jagged edge tore a line in the man's porcelain skin. It had Sephiroth taking pause, lifting his gloved hand to his new wound and dabbing at the bit of blood that began to run from it. Cloud was almost shocked to see he bled at all, let alone red blood that looked human. No longer amused by their fray, he upturned a small table nearby and snapped off one of the legs to match Cloud's improvised weapon.

Cloud ducked as the man swung toward him with the table leg. He realized too late it was a bluff as he found the leg being swung upwards into his chin, knocking him backwards where his head hit the wall behind him. It stunned him a little and gave Sephiroth the chance to strike him, which he did in his ribs several times before swinging at his right wrist, hitting it hard and making him cry out and drop his own makeshift baton. Suddenly, he found himself being slammed back against the wall and a second later found the end of the table leg pressing into the hollow of his neck below his hyoid, resting in the notch of his sternum and keeping him pinned against the wall.

Sephiroth held the end of the weapon into his neck with enough pressure to make it difficult to breathe and nearly impossible to swallow. Cloud gripped the length of the leg ahead of him in his own hands, readying himself to act if the man tried to crush his neck right there. Instead, Sephiroth spoke.

"I think you should get down on your knees now and ask for my forgiveness for marring my face," he said by way of order.

"I'm never kneeling to you," Cloud struggled to say back.

"Yes, you will," Sephiorth snapped back while applying more pressure to Cloud's neck. "Right now," he added just before using the table leg to strike Cloud hard in the front of his left shin. He yelled out, his knee failing him and finding him dropping to the carpet on it. He found himself being struck again, this time on his back, but he forced himself to try and get to his feet, only to be shoved forward on the carpet. He was on his knees then, trying to rise before he felt the hair at the back of his head being gripped hard. He was hauled to a stand by his hair and with one of his hands still latched into it, Sephiroth drove the end of the table leg into the flesh of Cloud's back, at his right side, under his ribs.

Cloud found himself yelling out from the sudden pain, thinking he must have been impaled by the hard and sharp piece of wood. He arched hard to get away from it but Sephiroth held him in place, only pushing harder on the weapon, digging it deeper into his body, pulling desperate groans from him while tears started to stream from his eyes.

"I haven't broken the skin yet," Sephiroth told him from behind, still holding his hair in a tight grip. With seduction laced into his tone he added "but I'm so close to getting there. I can see it. That point of purple and bluish-black. Capillaries breaking apart beneath the surface. The bleeding already initiated, all I have to do is let it out…"

Cloud was frozen, only the sounds of his pain seeping from his clenched jaw. He didn't move, even as Sephiroth told him again to kneel.

"Once I break it open, I'm going to play with it," the man told him when he wouldn't comply. "You think Hojo is crazy? Wait until you see what I can do. I'll break apart your ribs and pull them out through that new hole, one by one."

Cloud felt the pressure increasing in his back and that voice of his fear screaming at him to give up. In the end it was the feeling that he was going to be sick that had him buckling, his shaking legs failing him and finding him on his hands and knees on the floor. He struggled not to break into sobs, while he held back the feeling he was going to throw up. Pain was still running through him in waves. Exhaustion came over him fast.

Sephiroth came to stand in front of him reaching down to place the end of that table leg under his chin and he forced him to sit back on his heels. His left leg ached as he did so. "Are you happy?" Cloud cried. "Are we done now? You got what you wanted," he admitted in defeat.

"Not even close," Sephiroth said icily as he tossed aside his weapon and raised his right foot. He planted it on Cloud's chest and pushed him down onto his back where he lay with his arms at his sides.

"What do you want then? What else can I do?" he asked brokenly as Sephiroth lowered himself to one knee in front of him. One of his strong hands cupped his chin tightly, forcing him to look up at him. "You want me to be sorry? That you are stuck down here," Cloud asked. "I'm not sorry. I'd do it again. So what do you want now?" he challenged.

"What do I want?" Sephiorth replied breathily, his face close to Cloud's. His other hand went to Cloud's face as well, stroking back his hair from his face that was wet with sweat. Goosebumps broke out on Cloud's body when Sephiroth suddenly leaned in and with a hum ran his tongue across his left cheek. The feeling was like a knife dragging across his skin. In his left ear, Sephiroth spoke. "What I want, Cloud Strife, is to hurt you in every way imaginable." He drew himself back a little to look into Cloud's eyes before his own wandered over Cloud's body. His one hand still held Cloud's jaw while the other he placed on his chest. The man's fingers kneaded at his skin through his shirt and quickly became painful. With a sinister smile forming on his lips, the man spoke again. "I'm going to reach deep inside you, so deep you can't stand it and I'm going to make a puppet out of you. And you'll dance for me. You will."

The man's fingers dug so deep into his flesh then that his fingernails did actually break skin through his shirt and it tore a cry of pain from Cloud. He struggled to get away from Sephiroth's hands, turning himself onto his side on the carpet, bringing his arms and legs into his body. The man wasn't about to leave him alone. Another hum cascaded from him as his hand first landed on Cloud's left upper leg. "Just like a puppet," he said before moving his hand to take hold of Cloud's left ankle and force his leg straight.

Despite any hints the ex-general had given as to what was possibly to come, Cloud hadn't been ready to believe the man was actually going to commit to escalating his assault on him from physical to sexual. Even as Cloud was fighting the taller, older and more muscular man that was holding him down on his back on the floor. Even as the man was tearing at his clothing. He felt it had to be just some lead-up to another type of torture, not rape. It didn't fit. He couldn't make sense of it.

"What are you doing?!" he found himself yelling at the man as he grabbed hold of his hands with his own and pushed them away from himself repeatedly. "What do you want?!" he cried out as he managed to raise his knee between their bodies and, using his leg, forced the man backwards and off of him.

In the brief moment he was freed he rolled himself onto his stomach and struggled to pull himself away. He didn't make it more than a few feet away before one of the man's large hands caught hold of him. In one swift movement the man had turned him back over. For just a second Cloud was looking up at him as Sephiroth knelt on one knee over him. Then he saw that leather-clad fist coming at him again, striking him in his face hard. Then again. And again. His eyes were shut when he was hit a fourth time, that last impact knocking him out cold.

He didn't know how long he was out. It could have been minutes. It felt like hours. He opened his eyes slowly, feeling pain in his face first. He tasted blood in his mouth again and as he took a breath he felt it at the back of his throat, making him cough weakly before he swallowed it down. He was still on his back on the floor. He stared at the coffered ceiling above him and started to listen. His ears were ringing a little. Outside of that, he thought he heard water running from somewhere. He couldn't see Sephiroth.

He felt his back then. It felt alive with fire. As he lowered his chin to his chest he could see that his sweater was gone and his shirt had ridden up on his back, leaving his skin to press against the carpet. Carpet burn. That's what it felt like on the skin of his back. His arms were heavy at his sides. Slowly he started to turn himself on his left side, trying to sit himself up. Sudden and deep pain in his lower body had him stopping and crying out, squeezing his eyes shut again. Falling to the carpet once more, he reached back to clutch his lower back, near his sacrum, feeling like he'd fallen on it from a height. His breath caught in his chest as he felt his palm against his bare skin. With his eyes still shut, he slid his hand around to his right leg, feeling for what should have been there. He didn't need to open his eyes and look to confirm he was uncovered from the waist-down. But he did. With the confirmation he also saw red, on him and on the beige carpet.

Rolling slightly, flat on his back again, he put his hands over his face and tried to take deep breaths through them. He felt his body beginning to shake as he tried to contain the sobs that wanted out of him. He heard the sound of movement nearby then. He kept his face covered and listened to who he assumed was Sephiroth coming toward him. He ignored the man's whistle to get his attention.

"What did you do?" he cried through his hands.

"Sometimes, there is no greater torture than that of humiliation," Sephiroth spoke down to him. "I have never forced myself on a soldier of an opposing army, though I have seen it. Ordered it. It's expected. You can cut a man to nothing so easily. I've see green infantry boys throw themselves under trains and fire ammunition into their skulls after enduring such abuses in battle. You assault the body and the soul suffers. It's perplexing and amazing."

Cloud felt the man coming closer to him, imagined him crouching next to him. Instead, the former general knelt, over him, straddling his body. He felt, with disdain, the man's hands running through his hair, smoothing it back from his face, from under his hands.

"Would you throw yourself in front of a train, Private Strife?" Sephiroth asked him in an almost gentle tone. When he said nothing he felt his wrists being seized suddenly and his hands pulled from his face. Almost immediately, he was turning his head to avoid looking up at the man above him but his jaw was captured fast in a tight grip and he was forced to meet the man's eyes that gleamed brightly with satisfaction. Still, he refused to answer his question. "Of course you would," the ex-general said with a smug smile. "You would do it because you won't be able to stand it. The feeling. The heartbreak. You adore me. You idolize me! I could see it in your eyes the first time we met at the air yard. You'd have done anything I asked of you. If I'd ordered you to my bed for the night in that sad hotel in that pathetic hometown of yours you would have come."

"No!" Cloud denied, shaking his head out of Sephiroth's hold. "You don't know me," he told him almost angrily, feeling his situational grief fall away momentarily.

"Fair told me so," Sephiroth argued. "I was your hero," he mused while looking over him lying below him.

"My mother was my hero," he said back fast, earning a chuckle from Sephiroth.

"I'll bet she screamed as she was burning," he laughed, the sound cut off swiftly by Cloud spitting bloody saliva up at his face. The man sat back from him fast and just as quickly struck Cloud back with the back of his hand. The force of it found his head and shoulders turning to the side. He felt Sephiroth's hands grabbing for the material of his t-shirt then and with some sudden movements was ripping the material of it. The man rendered it to shreds easily, pulling it from Cloud's body. He stood and used it to wipe his face off before dropping the material to the floor. Cloud noticed then the man was shirtless as well. "Is that all you have left?" the man mocked, crouching next to Cloud. Before he could make another move there was a loud banging from across the room.

"Sephiroth!" a voice Cloud recognized as belonging to Genesis called. The sound was muffled. He must have been outside the room, banging on the door Sephiroth had locked when he'd dragged him inside with him. The man turned his head and his upper body to look in the presumable direction of the door. Cloud took the opportunity the distraction presented to take hold of his shredded t-shirt material in his hands. "Sephiroth, open the door!" Genesis demanded. Cloud knew Sephiroth had no intention of leaving him unattended. His momentary lapse in attention had to do. Cloud had managed to wrap the material of his shirt in his hands, leaving a length of material between that he lunged at the former general with. Fueled with adrenalin, he barely felt any pain as he sat himself up and first shot his hands out to throw the man off balance, getting him on his knees before reaching the length of material over Sephiroth's head and pulling it taught at his neck.

His attack was thwarted in less than ten seconds as Sephiroth grasped the material against his skin and managed to tear it like it was nothing. He turned to face Cloud fast, throwing his silver-haired head forward and into Cloud's face. The force of it sent him back to the floor and nearly knocked him unconscious again. A hand clutching his hair hard and shaking his head kept him from passing out.

"Stay with me, Cloud," Sephiroth encouraged. "I want you awake this time for the puppet show," he added sharply while taking hold of his body and forcing him onto his stomach. The man's hands were away from him as he began unfastening the black leather belt of his pants. Cloud raised his head slightly to look ahead at what was closest to him. He saw a chaise a few meters away from him and began to pull himself toward it. He didn't really know what he was doing, only what he didn't want to happen.

Sephiroth was on him before he'd gotten more than a few inches, lifting his upper body from the floor and pushing him roughly towards the piece of furniture he'd had his eyes on. He found himself on his knees in front of it, his arms bracing the seat while he felt Sephiroth's hands at his hips. A brief struggle found his upper body being pushed harder into the soft surface and his head and face pushed into the heap of pillows on top of it. He fought to turn his head enough to speak.

"Why?!" he called back to the man. "Why this? Why again?" he added, thinking of what had already been done to him while he was knocked out.

The man leaned over him, his body pressing against him as he spoke near his ear. "Because it scares you. Because it will be agonizing in so many ways. Because every time you think of me, this is what you'll think of," he explained coldly, releasing his hold on his right hip to ready himself behind him. "And because part of me desires what I haven't had in over four years. Because of you. I suffer. My mother, your true mother, suffers. Now I'll make you suffer," the man concluded. He didn't give Cloud a chance to respond before taking him by force a second time. Cloud screamed instead into the pillows beneath his face.

The former general took his already ravaged and injured body fiercely. He'd expected pain but the immensity of it was crushing. Outside of his initial scream, he couldn't make a sound and he couldn't cry, because he couldn't catch his breath. Because of the pain, and because of the suffocating surface he found himself pushed into. Sephiroth had one hand on his upper back, locked between his shoulder blades that kept him pressed tightly against the padded surface of the furniture. He felt like he was dying. That he was either going to asphyxiate amongst the pillows or that something was going to be ripped apart inside him and find him succumbing to some massive internal bleed. He needed out. Out of his body. Anywhere but there. With his heart and mind aching and screaming for his lost voice he found himself calling for Zack, reaching out to him desperately, something he told himself he would not do. In his mind he pictured himself with him alone and holding a hand in the darkness, drew Zack toward him.


	13. Chapter 13

_Happy Holidays everyone!_

~Thirteen~

Although he'd had access to all of it, the files, the video footage, everything from the mansion for days, it had almost been impossible for Zack to look at any of it. It sat in boxes at the apartment he shared with Aerith. It had been a big deal for him to bring that stuff back there, where Aerith could access it. She was the last person he wanted to see the documentation of what he and Cloud had gone through. His first thought was to store the boxes at Johnny's place but ultimately he decided against it. He needed to trust Aerith completely. He wanted to, and for the most part he did trust her. But he was worried she'd convince herself she needed to see the proof of his experience in the mansion. He knew that's how he'd feel if their roles were reversed.

When he talked to Aerith about it, however, she had promised she would not touch those boxes if that's what he wanted. Because it was his experience. His and Cloud's alone. And it was theirs to share only if they wanted. She'd also told him she would never invade Cloud's privacy like that without his permission so until she could talk to him in person about it, she would never look at anything that had to do with him.

Since he'd brought the boxes home, he'd spent a lot of time looking at them. He'd even lifted the lids on a few to look in, but he hadn't read anything. Watched anything. He still had the memories. He could understand Cloud's need to see all of it, but unlike Cloud he had his memories of those four years. Still, it was different. These were notes taken by Hojo and the various doctors who had treated them. There was the video footage. He wanted to know what Cloud knew.

He thought maybe he could start with the videos. He'd never been much of a reader and he thought reading Hojo's comments would just infuriate him. When he started going through the video files, however, and came upon the name _Vince Vallow_ , he changed his mind. He knew what would be on those videos. He had put it out of his mind at the time but he easily remembered Vallow filming him with his cellphone on a few occasions. He never imagined the footage would end up in Cloud's hands. Knowing Cloud had probably seen that footage made him feel sick. Knowing anyone could have seen it made him feel sick, which is why he got rid of that footage without viewing it. He didn't ever plan on telling anyone what had happened with Vallow. Not Aerith, not anyone. He didn't know how many people knew outside of him and Cloud, but he wasn't going to add anyone else to the list himself.

Aerith had left him alone that day, giving him space to deal with those boxes she knew he'd been neglecting. She told him she'd be at Tifa's. After getting rid of the Vallow files, Zack decided once again he couldn't face what was in those boxes he'd gotten from Galen. With his mind now racing and dwelling on those hours he'd spent with Vallow in the mansion, he decided to head over to the bar. Just outside the apartment, Lazard approached him. Even though he regularly showed up suddenly and unannounced, it still shocked Zack nine times out of ten when Lazard would make his presence known. That day was no exception. When Zack heard footsteps coming up behind him outside the apartment he nearly threw a punch as he turned.

"Lazard, fuh—" he began to exclaim, dropping his arm as he let the air caught in his chest out slowly.

"Where are you heading?" Lazard asked him softly.

"Tifa's," Zack told him.

"What's wrong?" the man asked with concern.

"Nothing," Zack said, shaking his head, but he knew something in his demeanor and tone of voice had given him away. "It's just…I'm just trying to deal with something I'm not ready to deal with. I thought I was."

"I understand," Lazard said back. "Is there anything I can do?"

Zack looked at him as they walked toward the bar. "You still haven't had any luck contacting Genesis, I take it?"

"No. All my calls have still gone unanswered," the man told him.

"You think maybe he's actually dead? Rather than hiding from you? You said he was in rough shape," Zack pointed out.

Lazard shrugged. "It's possible," he agreed a little sadly. Zack didn't say anything to reassure him. He had a hard time accepting the friendship between Lazard and Genesis. Though he remembered Angeal speaking fondly of Genesis, he'd never known him to be anything other than a menace and a murderer. He had been responsible for so many deaths in the past.

When they reached the bar, Zack had expected Aerith to question him about what had happened with the boxes at the apartment but she only gave him a sort of sympathetic, understanding smile. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before sitting down next to her at the bar. Lazard sat down at his other side while he looked from Aerith to Tifa behind the bar and Johnny standing next to her. It seemed to Zack he'd just walked in on the middle of serious conversation.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I got a hold of Kunsel," Aerith told him, taking him a little off guard. He'd been trying to get in touch with his SOLDIER friend but calls to Kunsel's personal line had gone unanswered for days. "He was deployed on a mission until early this morning apparently," Aerith said.

"How's he doing?" Zack questioned.

"Okay. I asked him if he'd maybe get in touch with Tseng, to talk to him about that possible lab facility in Gongaga," she said and he nodded. "He said he can't ask Tseng anything right now because he's in an undisclosed hospital. He's been there for some time."

"What? Why?" Zack asked.

"He doesn't know."

"How? He knows everything that goes on in Shinra. Why can't he ask those two morons Reno and Rude? Surely they know," Zack reasoned.

"Apparently, they aren't saying anything to anyone about it," Tifa said before Aerith could explain. "Or they just aren't saying it to him."

"It's hard to know," Aerith added.

"I hate to say it but, someone should probably talk to Reno," Tifa suggested. "You know where his apartment is right, Zack? Zack?"

Zack had heard her but at that same moment he felt suddenly that same sensation he'd had when trying to contact Cloud weeks ago. He knew it was him and that he was trying to reach him. The signal was strong and something about it struck him with deep concern. Something was wrong.

"Cloud" he said aloud, not even meaning to, as he shut his eyes and let his mind go. He felt like he was leaving his body at lightning speed. It was a much different feeling on the receiving end of the communication. He felt the force on his body differently, like a giant magnet was sucking him through a narrow channel. So narrow he felt the sides of it against this arms while he was pulled.

He was a little disoriented when his body came to a sudden stop but he was on his feet at least and he was with Cloud again. Just as in their first visit, their backs were pressed together but barely a second passed before he heard his friend say his name in a voice strained with emotion. Cloud had turned to face him, and Zack felt Cloud's hands gripping his shirt tightly while pressing his face into his back. He could feel that Cloud was in pain and he was overwhelmed by the sudden smell of sweat and blood.

He turned himself to face Cloud, his friend nearly falling into his arms that he wrapped around Cloud's body tightly. He felt him shaking as he began to sob into his chest. He had expected to see the injuries he knew Cloud must have. To see blood. But it was just Cloud, dressed in some clothes he'd seen him wear a hundred times in Midgar. It occurred to him then that while he was sure Cloud was actually with him, he was seeing him as he wanted to see him, because he couldn't see him as he was. He wondered what he would look like to Cloud if that were true.

"Spike, what's wrong?" he asked urgently while holding him.

"I'm sorry," Cloud cried, "I needed to get away. I needed you."

"What's happening? You're shaking so bad, buddy," he said.

"I'm sorry," Cloud repeated through his sobs.

"You're hurt. What did Hojo do?" Zack asked.

"It's Sephiroth. Hojo gave me to him," Cloud told him.

"What are you talking about?" Zack asked while holding his friend's upper arms and pulling him back slightly so he could look into his face. "Sephiroth's gone," he reminded his friend.

'He's not!" Cloud protested. "Hojo has him. He's alive. He hates me so much for what I did to him, Zack. He has me trapped with him. This is the only way I could get away."

"What's he done to you?" Zack dared to ask, setting aside his feelings of disbelief. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what the man had done if he really were alive but he needed to.

Cloud said nothing at first, letting his reddened eyes fall downward. Zack shook him a little to pull his attention back

"Cloud," he prodded and his friend let his body fall into his again gently while Zack felt his hands gripping his back tighter.

"It's bad," he heard him say softly. "Can you see it?"

Zack tried, though half-heartedly, looking around the strange emptied space around them. He didn't know if he could handle seeing Sephiroth inflicting pain on his friend that seemed so small in his arms in that moment. Thankfully, he saw nothing.

"No," he told Cloud and his friend let out what seemed like a breath of relief.

"Good," he said quietly. "Zack, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For leaving you for Genesis," his friend confessed. "I shouldn't have left. It was stupid. I was stupid."

"It's okay," Zack assured him. "I understand why. You don't need to be sorry. I shouldn't have lied to you. I betrayed your trust."

Cloud pulled back again slightly to look at him. "You thought you were doing the right thing."

Zack nodded. "Some of the time. But I knew when it was wrong. There's no one to blame but me. I failed you. You're where you are now because of me."

Cloud was looking past him as he said back, "I'm here because of me."

"I can find you if you figure out where you are," Zack told him.

"I don't want that," Cloud said fast, shaking his head. He stepped back from Zack, letting him go. "Hojo will hurt or kill you! I can't handle that, Zack. You don't owe me anything."

"I can't just leave you with Hojo, Cloud," Zack argued and Cloud turned away from him. "I can't," he repeated sadly. "And I know you understand why," he added while reaching a hand out to place on Cloud's shoulder and force him to face him again.

"I do," Cloud agreed reluctantly, "but I'll lose my mind if you or anyone else is hurt trying to help me! The only thing I take comfort in is knowing you and the others are all okay."

A look of anxiety came over his friend. He thought he could start crying again, though he didn't. Zack grabbed hold of him again and pulled him closer. "I know I can't ask this, given my track record," Zack began, "but I want you to try and trust me again, buddy. If there was ever a time for it. It's now. I promise I won't do anything that could jeopardize lives. I will find a way to get you out of there without risk of that. You gotta hold on until then, okay?"

"Until when?" Cloud asked.

"Until you're safe at home. Okay?"

Cloud nodded once. "I'll try," he said.

Zack shook his head in return. "Promise me," he ordered.

"I promise," Cloud said, in a tone that was surrendering before lowering his head as Zack hugged him close again.

"Listen to me closely, Spike," Zack instructed. "You are the strongest kid I've ever known. There is _nothing_ you can't survive wherever you are. You can make it through anything. _Anything_. Understand?" There was a pause before he felt Cloud's head nodding against him and his friend said a quiet _Okay_. "I miss you, buddy," Zack told him then.

"I miss you too, Zack," Cloud replied softly.

"I love you. No matter what, it'll be okay," Zack spoke reassuringly. "You'll be okay."

A thundering sound found them turning their heads to the darkness above. It took a second before Cloud's fear was suddenly evident in his eyes.

"He's coming for me," Cloud told Zack. Sephiroth. Zack felt it too.

"How?" He asked, not understanding how the man could infiltrate what Zack had assumed was exclusively shared between him and Cloud.

A renewed flood of tears struck Cloud, though he was silent and gripping Zack so hard it was almost painful.

"Zack..." his friend whispered with despair. There was no time for him to respond before he felt a sudden immense impact against the front of his body that separated him from Cloud and sent him backwards several feet. In a flash of black and silver Sephiroth had managed to snatch Cloud's neck, gripping his throat as he slammed him backwards down on the ground below.

"You think you can hide from me here!" The man yelled down at him from where he crouched over him on one knee, his hand still firmly attached to Cloud's neck. "I'll find you wherever you are!" He stated fiercely before slamming his other fist into Cloud's ribs, pulling a yell from both Cloud and Zack. From nearby, Zack felt the hit in his own ribs, he didn't have time to contemplate why.

"Sephiroth!" Zack shouted despite the pain, drawing the man's eyes to him. "Get your damn hands off of him," he demanded. "Don't you touch him!" The general only smiled at his warning.

"It's too late for that Fair. I _have_ touched him already," he mocked. Cloud was gripping his hand lightly that was still attached to his throat, struggling to take in breaths under the pressure. "Many, many times," he cooed, running the back of his other hand over Cloud's right cheek slowly.

Zack launched himself at the man, ready to send his right fist flying into him but before he could make contact, he felt his fist being stopped by Sephiroth's. The general held onto it hard and squeezed it suddenly. Zack felt his joints caving under the pressure and pain ran through his hand. He cried out at the same time Cloud did and his eyes lowered to Cloud to see him clutching his own right hand.

"Pathetic," Sephiroth seethed. He kept his grip tight as he forced Zack down to his knees on the floor. Zack pushed down his pain deep within him so that he could look up into those fierce green eyes he never thought he'd see again. "The boy is a better fighter," the general commented, nodding his head toward Cloud.

"Leave him alone," Zack said firmly, trying to sound threatening but again the man only smiled.

"But I'm so enjoying our playtime," the man mocked. "I have penetrated his depths and he is my puppet now. I'll do with him what I wish."

Zack grimaced, shutting his eyes a moment as beads of sweat rolled down his face.

"No need to feel left out, Zackary. I have two hands, I can have two puppets," Sephiroth offered.

"Not in a million years, you psychopath!" Zack fired at him. "You touch Cloud again and I'll rip your guts out," he promised.

In response, Sephiroth readjusted his grip on his hand, clutching his fingers and twisting them hard. The pain was enough to make him scream. Cloud, too, cried out. The general let go of Zack's hand finally.

"I hope you like it here, Fair, you won't be leaving anytime soon," the man told him cryptically before he ripped off his one leather glove and reached his bare hand out toward Zack's forehead.

"No!" Cloud called out in panic before the man could make contact. Cloud had scrambled to reach for Sephiroth, grabbing for his left leg with his one hand.

A sudden bright flash of light had Zack shutting his eyes. When he opened them again he was back in the bar. He didn't have the chance to wonder how it happened. All he could focus on was the tremendous pain he felt in his right hand. It had him crying out and stumbling off the barstool below him, which made him suddenly aware of phantom pain lingering in his rib cage and elsewhere. Cloud's pains.

"Zack!" he heard Aerith's voice say. "What is it?" She attempted to clasp hold his hand but he pulled it back fast. "What?!" she cried out.

"My hand!" was all he could get out of his mouth. Something was wrong. The pain wasn't fading. It was getting worse and it looked like his hand was swelling. The pain was so overwhelming he barely noticed anyone in the room outside Aerith.

"Sit down," Aerith urged him as Johnny pulled a chair from one of the tables nearby and Aerith nudged Zack toward it. Zack allowed Johnny to get a look at his hand and he quickly determined at the very least two of his fingers had to be broken.

"It's not something that will fix on its own," Johnny told him. "You need an x-ray to see how bad it is," he added.

"In my wallet," Zack groaned, twisting his body a little to make it accessible in his pocket to Aerith. "There's a number, call it," he ordered as sweat dripped from his face. Aerith found the little scrap of paper with a phone number and name on it and handed it to Johnny.

"How did this happen?" Tifa asked in shock with Lazard standing next to her. "You never left the room," she pointed out. He just shook his head.

"I can't breathe," he told Aerith. He felt his head spinning and his stomach churning. "I think I'm going to throw up."

Tifa left then to retrieve a bucket for him to throw up into if he needed to.

"Who did this?" Lazard spoke then as he looked at Zack almost with more curiosity and disbelief than concern at first.

"Sephiroth," Zack told him without looking at him.

"He did this on the plane?" Lazard questioned next and Zack just nodded. He thought of Cloud then.

"Cloud called me there..." He began to explain. He surprised even himself when he was overcome with emotion and began to sob. "He was scared. Sephiroth has him," he stuttered out through his tears that were suddenly choking him. "He was so scared," he repeated, looking at Aerith who had pulled another chair up to sit herself close to him. "I don't know what to do!" he cried. "I have to help him and I don't know what to do!" It was a heartbreaking declaration and she didn't know what to say in that moment to reassure him.

000

Fresh pain was quick to welcome Cloud back to the brutal reality of Sephiroth's rooms as the man kicked him in his left side hard to wake him. His transition from his other-world experience back to the waking world was one through a short unconsciousness, during which he must have been pulled to the floor next to the chaise. He rolled onto his right side slowly and gripped his assaulted ribs with his right hand that pulsed with a lingering pain that he didn't understand.

"Don't try to do that again," Sephiroth warned him. "You can't escape me. Not now, not _ever_!"

Cloud only lay still, only breathing hard, as the man paced around him. He was trying to hold on to the feeling of Zack hugging him tightly and his voice telling him he could take whatever was forced upon him in his Hell.

"Fair will not be your refuge," Sephiroth spat at him. "Only Mother." He paused, standing still a moment. "Why do you care for him, Mother?" he said then. Cloud listened silently, confused as to whether Sephiroth was still speaking to him. "He's nothing. He's just a toy. A time-waster. Something you become bored with and throw away." The man crouched next to him slowly. "Cheap. And broken," he said sharply. Then, with a whisper added, "Aren't you, Spike?"

At those words, Cloud looked at Sephiroth straight. "I may be weak now," he began, speaking clearly and reining his emotions in as much as possible. "But it won't always be like this. One day, when the time is right, I'll kill you. You, and Hojo, and whatever's left of that bitch you call your mother."

Sephiroth's eyes were piercing. "That's quite the mouth on you, puppet," he remarked in a cutting tone before a sly smile crept across his face once more. In a voice dripping in excitement he said, "Let's see what else it's good for."


	14. Chapter 14

_Hey all, Happy New Year!  
_

 _I can't get into my email (what else is new) so unfortunately I haven't been able to reply to your reviews for Chapter 13 before submitting this chapter. But once I can get in I'll do that. **Heavy trigger warning for this chapter**. Nasty stuff ahead haha! Thanks for reading and reviewing!_

~Fourteen~

Maybe he should have fought harder. That's what Cloud told himself as he lay on the carpet, alone for the time being. A small puddle of vomit lay next to him. The taste of it was heavy in his mouth. He didn't know he'd had enough in his stomach to expel. Some of it was blood. He could hear Sephiroth in the other room, cursing as he washed off what Cloud had ejected onto him.

Maybe it was concussion setting in. The shock of his injuries. Maybe he was naïve, or maybe just stupid, not knowing what Sephiroth was inferring when speaking of his mouth. Even once he'd realized and the man's genitals were at his face, he found himself suddenly petrified and submitting to the man's hands that forced his jaw open so his mouth could be assaulted as violently as the rest of his body. He'd barely moved at first, until the feeling of choking snapped him out of his trance and found him pushing Sephiroth away from him while he started to close his jaw, and with it, his teeth.

Though he'd been slow to react to what was happening to him, Sephiroth wasn't. His hand was still clutching Cloud's jaw bone and he was quick to apply enough pressure to keep his mouth open that it had Cloud crying out and shutting his eyes against the pain. The man pulled out of his mouth briefly to send some well-aimed blows into his face with his fist, sending him crashing once again to the brink of unconsciousness. Then, holding Cloud's limp upper body up by his hair, the man spoke.

"I will break your jaw into a hundred pieces," he said by way of warning, though Cloud hardly heard it. His ears were ringing. Blood was filling his mouth and dribbling from the corner of his lips. His mouth was already hanging open as Sephiroth again pushed himself inside it. Cloud let his heavy eyelids fall shut. His arms hung at his sides. He wanted to pass out and he might have but the repeated thrusted impacts to the back of his throat kept him on the verge of coughing and gagging.

He started to think about what was happening to him then. The feeling and taste of it. It was only seconds after that he found his gagging bringing up what had been resting uneasily in his stomach. As he vomited, Sephiroth pulled back from him once more, letting go of his head and letting him fall back to the carpet where he turned his body slightly to continue throwing up.

Now he lay still, panting as his body broke out in a cold sweat and he felt tears running from the corners of his eyes in steady streams. His jaw was pulsing in pain and the back of his throat was burning. He suspected his torture was far from over but he didn't think he could fight anymore, so he didn't. He gave in instead to exhaustion and slipped into sleep before Sephiroth had cleaned himself and come back to where he lay. He was still out when the man dragged his dirty, bleeding body to his bed. He woke underneath him, with his hands bound and the despairing thought that he was probably going to be spending the entire night where he was.

000

"It had to be my dominant hand," Zack commented dejectedly as he looked at the cast that now housed his right hand to keep it immobile while it was healing. He met Aerith's eyes briefly as she placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently in reassurance.

"Any normal patient, I'd say six to eight weeks for recovery, but given what I know of you it likely won't take that long," Doctor Pedgrin told him while he was cleaning up his medical supplies.

"Thank you, for seeing me so late," Zack said. "For seeing me at all," he added. "You don't know how thankful. If it weren't for you and Jacob…I'm not sure Cloud and I would have made it as far as we did."

Truly, they did owe their lives to Jacob, who'd taken them in after their escape from the mansion, and Lars Pedgrin, Jacob's doctor friend who'd treated them under secrecy on several occasions.

"I wish I could do more," the doctor said back. "I'm sorry I could not have you meet me someplace more discrete. The only x-ray machine I have access to is here," he explained, referring to the clinic, which he'd opened after hours to let Zack, Aerith and Johnny in to. "I can assure you there's no surveillance here, though. The clinic can't afford it." The doctor glanced at Johnny then. "Though I suspect you already noticed," he said with a smile. That _was_ one of the first things Johnny had looked for when they arrived, planning to take or destroy any hard drives that recorded their presence there.

"Not sure it really matters at this point if someone recognizes me," Zack muttered, avoiding the look Aerith was probably trying to give him.

"How is Cloud?" the doctor asked.

Aerith looked from the doctor to Zack, wondering what he would have to say to the man she'd just met but who Zack seemed to trust.

With his eyes glistening a little with building emotion he said, "Fine. He's fine." He cleared his throat gently then told the doctor they should be going. He thanked him again. Promised to repay him, words the doctor only shook his head at.

"Just take care of yourselves," the doctor told him. "I know it's never good news when Jacob tells me you need to see me," he added with a smile. "Unfortunately, I can't write you a prescription for pain killers, as I normally would—"

"No problem," Zack said fast. "It's better if you don't," he concluded. He hadn't been clean very long and the last thing he wanted was added temptation. He didn't know if he'd ever feel completely in control again when it came to drugs, prescription or otherwise.

After leaving the clinic, Johnny drove them back to their apartment in the slums. As much as he didn't feel like sleeping right then, Zack found that his encounter with Cloud and Sephiroth on the plane had sapped him of energy. Not even his mental anguish he felt for Cloud was going to keep him up. On his way into the apartment, however, Lazard approached them.

"May I speak with you, Zack?" he asked curtly and Zack nodded before telling Aerith to head inside.

"What is it?" he asked when they were alone.

"You're sure you saw Sephiroth on the plane?" the man asked him and Zack held his casted hand up between them.

"Pretty sure," Zack said back.

"I've never heard of something like this happening," Lazard told him. "I don't think you should go back there."

"Where? The plane?" Zack asked and Lazard nodded.

"If Sephiroth is alive and he can traverse the plane, interrupting connections…if he can inflict harm there…it's too dangerous," he advised.

"I don't know what exactly's happening right now," Zack said after exhaling a slow breath. "I don't know what it means, and I certainly don't understand what this whole 'plane' thing really is and what is or isn't possible, and I really don't care." He looked at Lazard straight, his expression hard. "If Cloud calls me there, I'm going. Period." Lazard lowered his eyes slowly. It seemed he was trying to decide what to say. "Goodnight, Lazard," Zack said before he could come up with the words.

000

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, Sephiroth ceased his torture of Cloud. Whether from boredom or because he'd finally worn himself out, Cloud didn't know because he'd already given in to the darkness of his exhaustion. The blinding pain of Sephiroth's sexual attacks did much to wear him down. Too afraid to retreat to that place where the man warned him not to try and hide, he did the next best thing. He shut everything out of his mind, focusing only on whatever small and good memory he could dredge up, even if it were an incomplete one. Once and awhile he could hold onto a little flash of something from when he was younger, before it all went bad. Finally, his tired body and mind had him sinking, through Sephiroth's mattress, through the floor and away to some dreamless, painless nothing.

When he woke again it was to the feeling of his arms moving while a voice spoke to him. He had to force his swollen eyes open to determine who it was. He barely made out Rand next to him. The man was at an odd angle, or he was. It was because he was lying down with his head to the side. He looked at his hands where his wrists were still bound together tightly but Rand was cutting the tight bindings with a pocket knife. As the man tried to talk to him he heard nothing. When his hands were freed, Rand reached down and took hold of his upper body, forcing him to sit up where he leaned heavily against the side table next to him and the bed at his back. He couldn't remember ending up where he was now.

"C4, I need you to focus," Rand spoke to him, drawing his attention back.

Suddenly the weight of where he still was, all that had happened, none of it a simple nightmare, hit Cloud and he found himself gripping Rand's one arm.

"Get me out?" was his soft plea. It was hard to get out through his injured lips and swollen jaw.

Using his own hand he gently removed Cloud's from his arm. "I'm not going to help you, C4, not yet," Rand told him. "You need to help yourself," he added. "Sephiroth is subdued for now. The doors to the elevator that will get you out of here will remain open for five minutes. After that, they will shut again. You have five minutes to get yourself to that elevator or you will be stuck down here until tomorrow. Understand?"

"No, wait-" Cloud began to panic over the thought of being trapped with Sephiroth another day. The man had done everything to him in the previous hours. He couldn't take a repeat.

"You can do this, C4," Rand encouraged before standing and leaving him where he was on the floor. The fatigue. The pain. It was all so overwhelming. He slid himself back to the floor on his side where he shut his eyes again and nearly let himself fall back asleep, almost convincingly himself Rand had been a dream. That the whole thing had.

 _You can't sleep_ , he had to tell himself. He opened his eyes and stared at a few loose carpet fibres nearby. He was so weak. Hurt. It wasn't right. It didn't feel like him. No matter what had happened. No matter how many times he was beaten, assaulted, tortured...even if he was only moving from one torture to another, he had to keep trying. Trying to fight. It was a part of him. In his DNA. Bad things, as far as he could tell, had always happened to him. It was like some eternal climb. His body could be broken, a hundred times or more, his spirit and drive could wane. But in the end he always fought. Even without reason or sense.

He could hear Zack's words, making him promise to hold on. Maybe there was nothing to hold on for. Maybe, despite everything he would lose in the end. Hojo would break him down and make him exactly what he wanted. But that wasn't today. He'd keep trying. _Until it kills me_ , he heard his own internal voice speak.

There was no word for the agony he felt when he started to force himself forward in the direction Rand had departed. The pain pulled desperate sounding cries from his tired lungs. He didn't think it was possible for him to stand and walk. Sephiroth hadn't been far off in his threat that when the man was finished with him, he wouldn't be able to hold himself upright. He imagined the worst. That he looked how he felt. That part of his insides had been pulled out of him. He imagined the bones of his pelvis and lower back being broken to pieces. They couldn't be though. He realized that when he finally managed to climb to a shaky stand, outside the room that housed Sephiroth's bed, and into the adjoining one. As for his insides being on the outside…he wasn't about to look. All he saw was the bruising and dried blood on his bare arms and hands as he reached ahead of himself to grasp onto anything he could to get closer to his escape.

The doors were open ahead of him. He could see the elevator but it seemed so far. Like miles lay between him and it. He heard his own internal voice telling him to hurry, knowing he had spent too much time lying on the floor motionless after Rand left him. He forced himself to hobble faster, stumbling repeatedly. He tripped on the rug outside Sephiroth's rooms, which had him falling and forcing himself to struggle through the pain a second time to get himself to his feet.

He'd taken too long. He knew he had. As his bare feet touched the tile outside of that elaborately finished room, he could feel it. With just ten or so feet to go, he could see Rand and the lab doctor standing inside the elevator, and the doors, which began to close in front of them.

"Wait!" he called, his one hand outstretched. He found his knees collapsing as he realized it really was too late. He had missed the chance to get himself out of that current hell where he was.

As he hit the floor he heard a sudden banging sound. He looked up to where he could see Genesis standing in front of the elevator, his cane between the closing doors, keeping them from shutting. He wrenched them until they opened again before he turned to look down at him. For a moment, Cloud just stared up at him. The man's eyes were locked on his and they seemed heavy with sadness.

"Come on, Cloud," he urged then, breaking direct eye contact with him. Cloud crawled the rest of the short distance into the elevator with Rand and the lab doctor. He didn't have a chance to say anything to Genesis before the doors closed again and he collapsed onto the elevator floor in a weary, panting heap.

As the elevator began moving, Rand draped a blanket over is nude and bloodied body while the doctor began to assess him. He felt himself shaking and his body was sweating profusely from the exertion of getting himself to the elevator. He couldn't help himself from groaning in pain after awakening all his injuries. Even his muscles cried out from the strain they'd been put through the last 24 hours.

"You're still fighting," Rand remarked. "Good."

Cloud didn't look at him. He kept his eyes pressed tightly shut. _Until I die_ , Cloud promised himself again silently, though death at the moment wouldn't have been unwelcome.

Until I die. The words echoed in his head as he started to feel that sinking feeling again. Spots were passing over his eyes when he tried to open them. His vision was fading to black. Before he passed out he heard a voice that wasn't his own, but he knew to be familiar in his head, whisper back in his ear.

 _I won't let you_.


	15. Chapter 15

_Hi all,  
_

 _Sorry for the long wait for this update and I'm sorry it couldn't be a longer chapter. Busy and all that jazz. As always, I want to say thank you so much for reading and reviewing. I'll try to update when I can._

 _Bye for now!_

~Fifteen~

Someone was holding him. It was warm where he was, inside that embrace. But he was cold. He could feel it down in his bones. His body shook and his teeth chattered together as he tried to steady his breathing. It was Zack's calm, whispering shush that seemed to ease him a little.

"It's so cold, Zack," Cloud told his friend.

"I've got you," Zack spoke quietly.

He couldn't see anything. His eyes were shut but he felt the sensation of icy linoleum under his right side. It was winter and the cold was seeping into every surface around them. He felt himself suddenly becoming lucid, realizing he was dreaming of something from the mansion. He hadn't somehow slipped into another out-of-body encounter with his friend.

"I can't get home," he found himself saying.

Zack was silent now but a female voice spoke to him instead. The same one he'd heard in the elevator before passing out. One he recognized, from when he was sick with mako poisoning. A voice without a face. A voice like liquid. Varying and undulating.

"You _are_ home, my poor lost lamb," she said.

He let go of the sleep that was holding him to his dream, choosing instead to sink back to the painful reality that was waiting for him, beckoning him back with the words "Can you hear me, C4?"

Bright fluorescent lighting shone suddenly into his eyes, stabbing away at the depths of his eyeballs and the back of his head. He tried to shield his face with his arms but hands were clutching onto them and pulling them down. He turned his head to the side fast, shutting his eyes again until more hands, or the same ones, forced him to look up again at the face that hovered over him. Hojo's face.

"Tell me where it hurts," the man said to him through a grin. His words echoed in Cloud's ears as if through a long tunnel.

"The subject's in shock," he thought he heard from somewhere. The words hadn't come from Hojo. "There was blood loss over a number of hours," he also heard.

"Let's see the damage," the professor remarked before Cloud felt his body being gripped and forced to move, hands trying to turn him over. He felt pain from deep inside his body that had him crying out. Muscles, flesh and tendons were alive with fire from within.

"Don't touch me!" he yelled out as loud as he could but he felt like he could barely make his lungs expand. Some of the haziness in his brain seemed to fade and his senses sharpened just a little with the sudden experience of that agonizing pain somewhere in the core of his body. He fought against the hands that tried to turn him over.

"You think you get a vote?" he heard Hojo say before he was finally forced onto his stomach. He pressed the side of his face into the soft surface below him that felt somewhat like a gurney or hospital bed. He felt the cold air of the room on the bare skin of his back and legs. Nothing happened for a moment. There was a second of silence before Hojo spoke again.

"How did these burns happen?" he asked. It was Rand who spoke then. Cloud hadn't seen him but realized now he was in the room.

"He made use of a lamp," Rand told the professor. He meaning Sephiroth.

It made Cloud shudder inwardly to think of it. To think of that searing torment on the flesh of his back as the former general pressed the hot glass of the light bulb at the end of his table lamp into him repeatedly while he held him down in his bed. He barely felt the burns now, in that moment.

"Resourceful, isn't he," Hojo remarked, though something in his tone suggested he wasn't entirely approving of that particular torture done by Sephiroth. If that was possible. He heard the man sigh. "Did you even fight at all, C4?" Hojo mocked. "No, of course you didn't. Because you love to struggle and feel pain. I'm beginning to believe you enjoy failure and punishment." He scoffed then. "Tears, what a surprise," he remarked.

Indeed, tears had struck Cloud again, something that despite all his will and wishing he couldn't stop from happening. He was so tired, so anguish-stricken. All the testing, the torture, the degradation he'd suffered in both the past and present was pulling him apart but he couldn't give in. Did that make Hojo right? Did some part of him want for the hurt? Did he even know what it meant to be happy and pain-free, physically or mentally? Had he ever been?

What he felt he needed right then was answers. He needed to see where everything was leading. The end result. To know what his suffering was for. Was he _just_ an experiment? What exactly was he fighting to stop? In all the notes he'd read in the files Galen had stolen from Hojo, in all the recordings, there had never been a statement of the professor's exact expectations of him and Zack. For them to be better, stronger, more apt…that was in there. But why? What did Shinra want them to do? He wished he could turn his thoughts and questions to words, but he'd never been a very vocal person, and he doubted he'd be more successful in that moment. He could only get out one question and it wasn't going to give him the specific answer he needed.

"What do you want from me?" he questioned between the soft pants of his choked-back sobs, waiting a few seconds for an answer. " _Please_ , just tell me," he begged when Hojo said nothing.

The silence that blanketed the room was heavy. It was almost as if all who were present were waiting for the professor's answer. Hojo took a deep breath in and finally he spoke, carefully and sharply.

"I want you to remember how you feel right now, C4. Because I want you to always remember who is in control here. It isn't you. The sooner you come to grips with that, the better. You stop with your pathetic rebellious antics and cooperate and you will be cherished, not punished. Otherwise, I will see to it you spend all your nights down where you just were," he warned. "I will continue to hurt you simply because I can. Trust me, C4, I've broken down much stronger subjects than you. You just spent the night with him."

No answers. Only threats.

Cloud didn't know what his expression conveyed to Hojo and the others but there was another moment of weighted quiet before the doctor spoke.

"I should begin treatment, professor, for potential infection," the doctor told Hojo.

"Of course," Hojo agreed, moving away from Cloud's side momentarily, allowing Cloud to see Rand and one of the lab assistants standing nearby. He made brief eye-contact with the lab assistant before he seemed to avert his gaze uncomfortably, leaving only Rand looking back at him. Unlike the young assistant, Rand didn't look away from him. His arms were folded across his chest and his expression neutral, but there was something in his eyes. It didn't seem like sympathy. Rather, it was like acknowledgement. Of knowing. To Cloud, it was worse than sympathy. That Rand could acknowledge what was done to him but not feel anything about it.

He heard the doctor say something about sedation. Cloud scoffed inwardly. If they would leave him alone he could easily have passed out, he was so tired. He didn't say anything. After a minute he felt the tip of a syringe against his left buttock. Though the feeling of the long needle breaking through his bruised flesh was painful, he only shut his eyes and winced at the feeling. He only had a few seconds to wait before the sedative took full effect. He spent those few seconds thinking over what Rand had said to Hojo about the lamp. It made Cloud wonder, how did he know what Sephiroth has used to burn his already battered back? He couldn't know unless...he was watching from somewhere. It was that terrifying thought that accompanied him into unconsciousness when the sedative finally claimed him.

000

"He's not coming," Tifa remarked from behind the bar. She leaned on the counter, resting her chin in her palm.

"He will if I go get him," Johnny said.

"Just give him a chance," Aerith urged. "It's only been an hour. There could be traffic," she suggested.

"He doesn't have a car anymore," Tifa argued.

"Well then maybe that's part of why he's late," Aerith said back fast.

Zack, having sat silently while they waited, pushed his chair back suddenly from the table where he was seated and stood up, ready to leave. Just then, the door to the bar swung open and Reno, who'd they'd been waiting on finally entered. Unlike the past few times Zack and others had seen the Turk, Reno actually looked as though he'd cleaned himself up. His hair and clothing weren't disheveled and he seemed alert, sober.

"You're late," Zack told him as he approached.

"I'm here, what do you want?" Reno snapped back at him. He ignored the chair at Zack's table that was obviously pulled out for him and took a seat at the bar instead.

"Can I get you anything, Reno?" Tifa asked him and he smiled brightly.

"Just what are you offering?" he questioned, chuckling at Tifa's less than amused expression. Zack left the table nearby to stand behind the bar next to Tifa where he could face Reno.

"So, what's this about, Fair?" Reno asked him. "Your messenger boy was less than vague."

Kunsel had been the one to contact him to set up a time for Reno to meet with the others.

"What's going on with Tseng?" Zack inquired first and Reno grew serious immediately.

"None of your business," he said fast.

"We're just concerned, Reno," Aerith spoke up, drawing the Turk's attention toward her.

"He's fine," Reno answered finally, his tone a little softer. "He's been on a long recovery road is all."

"Recovering from what?" Zack asked him.

"A severe injury. Back just before Genesis decided to double-cross your boy Strife, Tseng was sent out to apprehend them from where they were holed up. Probably some bullshit test of his loyalties. One that apparently he failed," Reno explained.

"How do you mean?"

Reno shrugged. "Well he wasn't able to follow through with the whole apprehending part so…"

"How was he injured?" Tifa asked.

"Ran through with a sword," Reno revealed.

"You think Cloud did it?" Zack drew his attention back.

"That's what Tseng told Shinra," Reno said, though his tone suggested that wasn't the real story.

"Yeah? What'd he tell you and Rude?" Zack prodded. Reno looked away from him, his eyes fixed on the bar top.

"He did it to himself, didn't he?" Zack asked and Reno's shoulders seemed to shrug again ever so slightly before he looked at him again.

"So…what do you want?" he questioned with a sigh.

"I came in to some information that Cloud may be in Gongaga somewhere," Zack told him. "You know anything about a Shinra lab facility out that way?"

Reno stared back at Zack with a somewhat perplexed expression before he released a dry laugh and shook his head.

"So that's it," he muttered, seemingly to himself.

"What is?" Zack asked as Reno suddenly seemed to get flustered, placing his palms on the bar top as if he were about to rise to leave.

"Thought they were giving me another chance," he said. "Guess I was wrong. They don't trust me at all."

"Who?" Tifa asked, trying to keep his attention focused as he looked as though he was getting lost in his own thoughts.

"Shinra, the Turks," Reno shot back at her almost angrily. "Thought they were assigning me a real job, not a fucking death sentence," he concluded before finally standing up and turning in the direction of the door.

"Wait," Zack demanded, walking out from behind the bar. "What are you talking about?" Reno pivoted back around to face him.

"I've been hammering them about bringing me back to work. Finally thought they were giving me another shot," he answered Zack and looked around at the others in the room briefly. "They told me I'm going to Gongaga," he said softly.

"Just you?" Zack replied and Reno gave another small shrug and a short nod. "Did they say why?"

"No," Reno said back, shaking his head. "They said someone would debrief me on the way there."

"Well, what did you say?" Zack asked him hesitantly.

"Yes, what do you think?" Reno said back in a harsh tone. "I need the job, and the money or I'm going to be fucking homeless soon. But I guess It's not work they're giving me. It's a fucking test. They can kiss my ass," was his sentiment before he made another motion to leave. Zack stopped him, taking hold of his arm.

"You're not going to go?"

"Not now!" Reno denied.

"You have to," Zack told him and Reno looked at him incredulously.

"Are you high?" he asked.

"You can find out where Cloud is and tell us," Zack pointed out, earning a short laugh from the Turk.

"You don't think that's what they expect me to do? They're going to be waiting for me to prove I'm not loyal. I already fucked up once, in a big way. They don't believe Tseng and I haven't been helping you."

"Well you have to figure out a way to make them think you're trustworthy," Zack ordered. "This may be our only chance!"

"You're asking me to risk my life!" Reno shouted back at him. "I don't owe you that, Fair!"

"Maybe you should!" Zack yelled in return. His anger almost had him grabbing hold of Reno and throwing him into something. But he wasn't alone in the room. Aerith stepped between them, placing her hands on his chest.

"Zack," she said softly, calming him, bringing his rationality back.

"Fine, you're right," he said, taking some steps back. "You don't owe us anything," he concluded dejectedly. He pulled a nearby chair out from under a table and sat himself down heavily. He ran his left hand through his hair with frustration while Reno observed him silently.

"What'd you do to your hand?" he asked after a moment, noting the cast on Zack's right hand. Zack didn't answer or look at him.

"We need your help, Reno," Aerith said to him gently.

"Forget it," Tifa said from behind the bar, drawing Reno's attention. "He doesn't care."

"That's not it," Reno fired at her, taking surprising outward offense to her comment. He looked around again, at each person, Johnny, Tifa, Aerith. Zack avoided looking at him.

Reno cleared his throat a little. "In the Shinra Mansion, me and Rude did things…" he began slowly. "Sometimes we were told to do them. Sometimes we just wanted to because of the things we were told. The things that Tseng would later tell us were all lies."

"About Zack and Cloud?" Tifa interrupted.

"Yes," Reno confirmed before turning his attention Zack's way again, waiting for the ex-SOLDIER to meet his eyes. When Zack reluctantly did so, he went on. "It doesn't make it right," Reno confessed. "But it made it easy at the time."

"And you want to work for a company that does that?" Tifa challenged. "A company that makes up lies to do evil, unjust things to people."

"The company isn't evil. Certain people are," Reno defended. "And the company, the Turk life is all I really know."

"You're saying you can't go to Gongaga because now you know the truth?" Zack spoke suddenly.

"That's what I'm saying," the Turk confirmed.

"You don't think you should try to help, after everything you did?" Tifa said. Reno closed his eyes a moment, letting out a forceful exhale. He didn't look at Tifa, instead keeping his focus on Zack.

"Are you okay with the thought of me hurting Strife?" he asked Zack, who only winced at the thought. He couldn't stand the thought of _anyone_ hurting him. "What if I go there and Hojo wants me to participate in some way?" Reno inquired. "Do you want me to refuse? When Hojo asks why, what am I supposed to say? That's what they will want. Refusal. Because the second I refuse to do something. The moment I give any indication of disapproval, they will have all the cause they need to interrogate me and maybe even charge me with conspiracy and insubordination. If they uncover Tseng's plan to replace the president, we will all face life sentences, or worse. Death penalties."

Zack was at a loss for words. He didn't know what to say to Reno because he couldn't argue with anything he said. It was a very real possibility that anything Reno reported to them from Gongaga could get him killed. Part of him hated Reno more than words could describe and always would, but a small part of him knew he couldn't willingly send the Turk to his death out of retribution for what had happened to him and Cloud, especially when he had been led to believe they were acting against an enemy.

"Could you actually do it?" Tifa questioned Reno, who looked at her in inquiry. "Hurt Cloud now that you know him?"

Reno thought about it a moment, or maybe only pretended to think about it because his answer was clear and definite. "To save my own life? To save Tseng's and Rude's? Yeah I could," he admitted.

At receiving his answer, emotion was quick to set into her eyes but she didn't convey any of it by way of facial expression before turning and pushing her way through the doors to the kitchen. Aerith gave Johnny a subtle head tilt, telling him he should go after her, which he did.

"Doesn't mean it would be easy," Reno tried to say to Zack but he wasn't looking at him anymore. He had his head down, his forehead propped in his left hand. Aerith gazed back at him instead.

"What are you going to do?" she asked him softly.

He rested his hands on his hips a minute and looked from her to the floor between them. Then he threw one hand up and sighed.

"Tell them I'm out. Give them my resignation and quit while I'm ahead. It's all I can do," he told her. "Sorry I can't help you," he said before turning to leave. He was at the door when Zack spoke finally.

"Could you give me your word that you'll try?"

Reno almost thought he'd imagined it, because when he looked back at Zack his head was still down. "Try what?" he asked.

"Try to get information to us about Cloud's location. The facility he's in. Anything that could help us free him and bring him home?"

Zack looked up finally when Reno didn't respond.

"I guess," Reno agreed slowly but with confusion. "But like I said, they would be waiting for me to try something like that. They'll likely intercept any transmission. I don't know what kind of set-up they ha—"

"Just tell me that if you find a way to do it, you'll do it," Zack cut him off. There was a hint of desperation in his tone. Just a hint, but enough that couldn't be ignored. "Can you promise me that?"

"Okay," Reno said with a slight nod. "Yeah."

Zack nodded in return. "If you think you can handle this, if you think you can do your job, then you should go," Zack told him.

"Are you sure about this?" Aerith asked Zack and he nodded again.

Reno looked at the door in front of him and motioned to push it open. He paused and looked back at Zack.

"You didn't answer my question," he pointed out. "If I'm asked to do something that could hurt Cloud…"

"Am I okay with it?" Zack said just barely over a whisper. "He's already being hurt…No I wouldn't be okay with it, but at least the hurt would be at the hands of someone who cares."

Reno couldn't think of anything to say to Zack's statement that was as powerful as it was frustrating. He took it as his cue, instead, to leave.

With Reno gone, Aerith reached down to take hold of Zack's left hand gently and she gave him a tearful but reassuring smile, knowing there was hope burning in Zack's heart at that moment, as much as there was fear and worry.

"Do you trust him?" Zack asked her and she didn't answer him lightly. She took the time to make sure she believed her own words first.

"Yes," she said then. "His soul is unsettled. He'll try to make it right," she assured.


	16. Chapter 16

_Hi again,  
_

 _I'm off work today so yay for you! Here's another chapter, and it's longer than the last chapter!_

 ** _Slight Trigger Warning: for references to some bad stuff._**

~Sixteen~

When Cloud finally woke again, he found himself lying in a hospital-type bed. It felt like hours had passed, maybe half a day or more. For a moment he let himself imagine it was a real hospital he was waking up in, or better than that. The bed back in the apartment in Midgar he'd shared with Zack. There was no use for his imagination now. Imagining the past only saddened him and imagining the future only made him fearful.

He felt worse than he had after any of the clone beatings he'd endured. His whole body ached. It was painful to breathe and his face felt swollen, his eyelids hard to force open. He opened his eyes slowly to look around the room from where he lay on his right side and the first thing he saw was the cuff that secured his right wrist to the guardrail at the side of the bed. There was dried blood still on his hands and arms, though he could see his wrists had been cleaned off. Someone must have been checking for wounds. There were no wounds on his wrists, only bruising. Something about the fact he was still dirtied from the time he was confined with Sephiroth struck him with anxiety. He wanted more than ever to be able to stand under the spray of the shower in his cell and get rid of all of it.

Slowly, he lifted his free left hand to his face and felt around tentatively. His skin, while swollen and bruised, and his lips split and sore, felt like it had been cleaned off, so perhaps he didn't look quite like the horror show he was picturing.

He didn't stop his brief examination of himself, though maybe he should have. He slid his free hand under the coverings that blanketed him and pushed them upwards just enough to assess himself. Things were no better torso-down. With a sigh he let the covers fall back into place on his body. He didn't know what made him do it, maybe it was the simple feeling that he just wanted a shower more anything else, but he began calling out to the doctor, not even knowing if he was in the vicinity. Eventually someone did hear him but it wasn't the doctor who came first.

"Did you need something, C4?" Rand's irritatingly smooth voice asked him. He strained to look back over his shoulder at the man.

"Where's the doctor?" he questioned.

"Attending to something for the moment," Rand told him. "Is there something you need?" he repeated his first question.

"I want back in my cell," Cloud said, almost more of an order than a request.

"You will be brought back to it when you can walk to it," Rand said, prompting a frustrated exhale from Cloud.

"I can—I will, whatever. Just…let me out of here," he demanded as he struggled to sit himself up. When he looked at Rand, he could see the man was making no movements. "Please?" Cloud spoke almost urgently. He pulled on the cuff holding him to the bed, shaking it and making the metal clang loudly.

"C4—" Rand began to say.

"You get results right?" Cloud said fast, cutting him off. "That's what you care about. Well I will give you all the fucking results you want, just let me out of this room, please!"

He sounded frantic, he knew he did. He felt ready to explode into a panic and he didn't even really know why. If he really thought about it he could probably figure it out but he didn't want to think about it. He just wanted back in his cell.

Rand leaned in a little, clearing his throat and looking like he was ready to say something.

"Don't tell me to wait for Hojo," Cloud said before Rand could get a word out. "I don't want to—"

Rand shushed him into silence before finally speaking. "I'm not going to let you go right now, C4," he began, holding a hand up to Cloud in a gesture that told him to stay quiet. That he wasn't finished. "I'm going to leave to retrieve some clothing for you and I will bring it and the doctor back here."

"No I—" Cloud began to try and argue before submitting to Rand quieting him a third time.

"If he clears you to leave, we will walk together to your cell," Rand bargained.

"Fine," Cloud agreed, if only because it was his only choice.

The time it took for Rand to return seemed like hours. It probably wasn't longer than twenty minutes. It gave him time to consider the pain he was in and how he actually did doubt he'd be able to walk himself back to his cell. But it wasn't really the cell he was walking to. It was something that meant more to him in that moment.

He endured the humiliation of the doctor's examination and gratefully accepted the administration of a painkiller before he was freed of the intravenous and catheter equipment inserted into him. He only half-listened when the doctor explained to Rand what the biggest medical concerns were. Continuing to stave off infection. Liquid only diet. Probable minute bleeding for the following few days but healing was accelerated due to mako enhancements. It was a lot of nothing to him but Rand kept true to his word, finally releasing him from the cuffs that held him to the bed. The man handed him the clothing he'd brought back with him, turning around to let him dress himself, which he did so slowly and painfully, feeling like every muscle and joint was stiff and seized up. It felt strange to put clean clothes over his dirty body but he was only going to strip himself down again when he got to his cell.

Then came the moment of truth. He lowered his feet to the cold tiled floor and began to shift his weight from the bed to his legs. Pain rippled up the back of his thighs and all the way up his spine, finding him calling out and collapsing back against the bed. He turned toward it, holding his weight on his arms as he leaned on the mattress.

"You don't need to do this right now, C4," Rand told him.

"I'm fine," Cloud snapped at him. "I just…need a second." He took a deep breath and let it out shakily. "Just get it done," he whispered to himself.

He didn't think about the pain as he took one laboured step after another to his cell. Fortunately, it wasn't a far distance. When Rand opened the cell door to let him in he thanked him, also without really thinking about it. He was thankful, so it was just natural to say. Rand left him seated on his bed when he departed. The first thing Cloud did was check the time in the wall before he began undressing himself again. The time indicated it was late morning, which meant he must have been sedated for much of the last twenty-four hours. After that, he hobbled his way into the bathroom where he stepped into the shower and lowered himself to the floor slowly. It was hours away from when the shower would come on and he was freezing already but he didn't care.

After only what seemed like a half hour, the shower came on suddenly, shocking him awake from the sleepy state he'd been in. He didn't know why it was on but he didn't question it, pushing himself forward instead, so that he could sit directly under the spray. He reached upward to the tray attached to the one wall and felt around until he had knocked the bar of soap that was there to the tile floor. Then he began the task of scrubbing himself clean. The water around him on the floor was fast to take on a rusty colour as the dried blood on his skin was washed off him and became diluted. He scrubbed himself hard, reddening his skin, and breaking open some of the abrasions he'd gained from Sephiroth. He couldn't really reach his back, but what he could reach he couldn't clean as aggressively as he wanted. He felt the burns that were there now, especially as they were aggravated by the temperature of the water.

When the shower turned off, he was tempted, however irrationally, to stay where he was until morning when he could shower a second time. He didn't give in to what his anxiety wanted of him, choosing instead to get himself back to his bed where he dressed himself and crawled under the covers, opting for the rest he knew he needed. He didn't sleep because he'd slept so much in the previous hours, but he lay with his eyes shut and waited for what he knew was inevitable. At some point Hojo was going to come to his cell, he knew he would. He would need to follow up and likely express some sort of disapproval with him or possibly Rand for having moved him from the medical room.

It was nearing four o'clock when the professor finally made his appearance. Cloud knew because he'd been keeping an eye on the time, knowing the shower could come on again at four if the previous routine was continued. He was debating showering again but wasn't feeling up to moving himself again. He knew he would have to at some point just to relieve his bladder. He was starting to see the upside of staying in the medical room another day.

It was the sudden change of lighting in the room as the curtain was drawn back from the windowed wall of his cell that announced Hojo's presence first. Cloud had been sleeping with the top of his head toward the window, however, so unless he tilted his head back or to the side, he couldn't see what was going on in the lab. Then he heard the click of the speaker coming on in his cell.

"Sit up, C4, I know you are awake and apparently feeling well enough to abandon your medical attention," Hojo's voice instructed him. "We have a visitor from Shinra."

Cloud may not normally have listened or made any movement to appease the man, but the announcement of someone from Shinra being there did make him wonder. Who could Hojo possibly feel like showing him off to at that moment after spending so much time keeping him isolated from all but the same small handful of people? He turned his head slowly, raising his chest and propping his upper body up on his right forearm and elbow, to find he recognized Hojo's visitor. To say it took him off guard would be an understatement, because it was Reno who stood next to the professor and looked back at him through the glass.

The air in the room seemed heavy for a moment as they looked at one another before Reno grinned and seemed to suppress a laugh.

"Nice set-up," he remarked.

Cloud sat himself up slowly, keeping his eyes on Reno while he tried to make sense of what was happening. Why he was there. For a brief second he had the thought that maybe Reno was there as a prisoner because Shinra had uncovered the conspiracy he'd been involved in, but he was in uniform. His Turk suit. He had his hands in the pockets of his suit pants and stood casually, seemingly without an ounce of tension or apprehension. He wasn't a prisoner, he was working.

"Pretty heavy upgrade from what you had previously," Reno said and Cloud almost thought he was talking to him. He almost answered him until the Turk looked at Hojo.

Though he tried not to pay much attention to Cloud, Reno had a hell of time not simply staring at him, for a few reasons. One was that it had actually given him a shock to see him looking like he did. What skin he could see on his arms and face was bruised or marred in abrasions or small cuts. His face seemed swollen and his eyes were set deep into dark circles. The white of his left eye was nearly entirely hidden on the one side under a large blood spot. In short, it looked like he'd been hit by a vehicle or beaten pretty badly. He knew it had to be the latter.

Besides his disturbing physical condition, he found himself fighting the urge to fix his gaze on Cloud because he was worried that he would say or act in some way that would make Hojo question the relationship between them. Not that they'd had much of one, but there was enough of something between them to cause an emotional reaction in their situation. He knew Cloud had to be feeling all sorts of confused. Maybe even a bit of betrayal. He just hoped he wouldn't open his mouth and say something about it. In ideal circumstances he would be able to get Cloud alone a minute to let him know what was happening, but there was a very real possibility he'd never get that chance.

He'd noticed a lot on his way into the facility, mainly the very complicated and advanced security system in place. There was surveillance in every corner, as far as he could tell, and not just video surveillance. He was able to see a lot of microphones. There was a good chance the whole place was wired for audio as well. Any contact he tried to make with Cloud would be seen and heard.

"Yes," Hojo agreed. "The facility is the most advanced of its kind. _Nothing_ gets in or out without clearance," he told Reno, though he looked at Cloud as he said it, his tone making it a message for him specifically, telling Cloud once again that any form of escape or rescue was impossible.

Reno nodded slowly before glancing Cloud's way once more. Cloud looked away from him and Hojo, fixing his eyes on something in the cell instead. Reno tilted his head toward him.

"He giving you much trouble?" he asked Hojo who smirked a little.

"I know how to handle him," he said before addressing Cloud directly. "Don't I, C4?" Cloud didn't acknowledge him, though he'd heard him. "I hope you can see that now after your latest punishment. If not, I'm sure I can show you again," he warned, his threatening words successfully getting a reaction from Cloud, who had to turn his back to the glass to keep Hojo from seeing the upset in his expression.

Hojo chuckled to himself at Cloud's defeated-looking form before he commenced closing the curtain over the cell once more and shutting off the audio feed.

Reno suddenly realized he was frowning to himself, just managing to neutralize his expression as the professor turned to him.

"Remind me again why it is the president has sent you all the way down here?" Hojo asked of him. "I was of the understanding he was supportive of operations."

"Yeah, he is," Reno confirmed. "He's looking for daily reports on any progress."

"But I've always informed him of progress made," the professor said almost defensively.

"Right," Reno agreed. "Maybe he's looking for someone to tell him what's going on in language that's easier to understand."

"A laymen's perspective?"

"Sure," Reno agreed. "And maybe he's also curious about, say, payroll for example."

Hojo regarded him with confusion. "I'm not sure I'm understanding," he said.

"More specifically, who's on it," Reno clarified. He could tell Hojo was going to give him some line of bullshit for appeasement purposes so he continued before he could speak. "There's someone working down here who doesn't quite check out over at headquarters," he explained.

Hojo scoffed. "All my employees on this project were approved for hire from the company," he claimed.

Reno already knew there was evidence to show otherwise because he'd seen it before being deployed to Gongaga. He'd been overjoyed, in fact, to learn that there was a real motive for having a Turk stationed in the facility, and not that he was simply being tested for his loyalty. There was evidence that suggested either Hojo was stealing money from the company under the guise of the money being paid to an employee, or that he had broken protocol in hiring someone who was not known to the company because they were not identified on the list of payees. It would have be some outside source, and he or she was being paid pretty handsomely for whatever they were doing in the facility. For security reasons, however, payroll information for employees working at the top secret research facilities was encoded and there were no names or personal information given that could be compromised and endanger workers. So finding out who was supposed to be in the facility and who wasn't was not such an easy task.

"All of your employees?" Reno countered. "Or all but _one_?"

Hojo's eyes narrowed behind his glasses before he smiled. "I assure you, there's no big secret to uncover, besides the obvious of course," he said as he motioned to the covered cell nearby.

"Well, if that's the truth, then you have nothing to worry about," Reno spoke smugly back to him.

"Is there anything I can get you to assist you in your reporting to the president?" Hojo offered. His tone seemed pleasant but Reno could see in his eyes he wasn't happy.

"Well, I'd like to start with reporting on the current condition of the specimen, so I guess any documentation you have, medical or otherwise, would be pretty helpful," he suggested.

"Very well," Hojo said with slight sigh behind his words.

000

Cloud spent much of that evening thinking about Reno and all the reasons he could be there. He wished he could ask if only to dispel the worries he had that maybe Reno's feelings had reverted back to those of hatred for him. He could come up with at least one reason how that could be true. Tseng. He'd injured him critically that night at the school with Genesis. Not because he'd wanted to, but would that make a difference to Reno, or Rude? Had Tseng even lived through that event? He didn't know.

It entered into his head to try contacting Zack, to tell him that Reno was there and to ask about Tseng, but he struck down the idea after a short contemplation. He was scared. He didn't know how Sephiroth had managed to enter their little hollow-like world and cause harm to them and he didn't know if he could continue to do it from wherever he was. Perhaps he would just be waiting there for him. If he could cause him pain there, he could do anything to him and there was no doubt he'd want to. For the first time since getting out of Sephiroth's elaborately decorated suite, he actually took the time to imagine how angry he must have been to find he had been taken away from him again.

"You're my puppet now, Cloud," the man had whispered into his ear from above, his heavy, sweat-glazed body forming a trap over him on the man's bed, pressing him so hard into it he felt his own bound hands forming bruises in his chest from him being forced to lay on top of them. "I'm so deep inside you now…" the man told him. "But I can go deeper…and deeper," he purred, his voice almost as rhythmic as his movements. "Until you feel it inside your little…crying…soul." The pillowcase of the pillow under his face was soaked through with a mixture of his sweat, saliva, blood, and tears. He found himself taking what he could get of the pillow into his mouth and biting on it, trying to silence the sounds of pain that wanted out of him. "I want you this way forever," Sephiroth declared, the sound of a deep and dark kind of need, of insatiable desire coating each one of his words, before one of the man's more forceful thrusts found the top of his head connecting with the headboard inches away.

The sound of something crashing to the floor found Cloud sitting himself up suddenly in the bed in his cell. Panting and trying to catch his breath he leaned back on his elbows when he realized he'd been asleep. His clothes were soaked through with sweat. Still working on catching his breath, he leaned over to look at the floor where he could see an upturned food tray and a large puddle of something wet on the floor. Over by the wall he could see an upside down bowl and a spoon not far from it. Someone must have brought the tray in and set it on the end of the bed at some point. He didn't really know why. Every day he'd been in that cell when food was brought it was sent into him the same way, slid through the slot under the door. He didn't know what to make of it but he figured he must have kicked the tray while trying to fight his nightmare.

Slowly, he pushed the covers off himself and slid out of the bed onto his knees on the floor. He retrieved the emptied bowl and spoon slowly and put them back on the tray before sliding them over to the door. He made his way to the bathroom then, resorting to crawling his way to the toilet where he sat to pee. Anything to keep from having to force himself to stand right then. He felt dizzy, his head spinning, and he thought he might throw up.

When he looked down into his pants he could see a few spots of something wet against the dark material. When he touched it he realized it was blood, the sight of which almost had him breaking down. He fought back his emotional tidal wave though and made his way back to his bed. A few dots of blood had made it through to the bottom sheet on the bed. Almost angrily, he pulled the bedding from the mattress. He used the soiled sheet to soak up what he assumed was soup broth from the floor. It was then that he questioned himself about why he was making an attempt at cleaning up the mess at all. He didn't really know. It's just what he would have done if he were at home and had no paper towels he supposed.

He left the wet sheet balled up near the cell door and lay himself back down in bed, not caring he'd just missed out on his only food source until the following day. He wasn't in any hurry to rush his digestive process back into action. He had fears of what the end of that process would feel like. At nine o'clock he heard the speaker click on in the room. He knew what was coming and it didn't take him off guard this time. This time, he answered before he was asked.

"My name is C4. I belong to Shinra. Shinra is home."

The speaker clicked off again without a word from it.

The following morning, he woke to some sounds near the door. The tray from the previous night was being pulled out through the slot in the door along with the balled up sheet. Another tray was slid in after. His breakfast looked to be some sort of thin, watery, creamy substance that did nothing to spark his appetite. He did force himself to eat it though, not wanting it to look as though he were refusing out of some form of continued protest. It didn't taste as bad as it looked.

At eight, the lock in the cell door clicked open. He jumped a little at the sound, having mostly associated it with the clones coming to give him a beating. There was another reason for it though, he remembered. The fitness room. It would be open for the next two hours. He didn't know if the door unlocking meant he was expected to go to the fitness room. Any doctor would probably tell him to rest after what he'd been through recently. But that was in the real world. Maybe the lock was just on a timer and was still set from the previous days. When he really thought about it, it didn't make any difference to him. He would go to the fitness room anyway.

Inside the room, he took a minute to decide what he should do. His lower body was pretty useless at the moment so he opted for doing something that exercised his upper body and sat down at one of the cable trainers to use a pull-down machine. He selected a fairly low weight to start with.

He hadn't been in the fitness room ten minutes when the door opened and Rand entered. He didn't say anything at first. Not even a greeting, which he always gave. He just stood and watched Cloud a moment, with his one hand still holding the door. Normally, Cloud would have tried to ignore him but he found himself regarding the man who was more casually dressed than he'd ever seen him, wearing a black fitted t-shirt and jeans. A folded pair of sunglasses was hanging at the collar of his shirt, pulling it into a slight 'V' at the front. The man had a touch of pink in his skin, like sunburn. It reminded Cloud suddenly of the thing called _weather_ and it made him wonder what it was like outside where he was. Was it warm? Warm enough for a t-shirt? He suddenly longed for the feeling of the sun on his skin.

"What are you doing?" Rand asked him then, a hint of confusion in his tone.

"What's it look like?" Cloud asked back flatly.

"You are not expected to improve your fitness while in recovery," the man stated.

Cloud shrugged, no longer looking at him. "I want to," he claimed.

Though no longer staring directly his way, out of the corner of his eye Cloud could see Rand's head tilt a little to the side. "Why?" he inquired curiously.

"Do I have to have a reason?" Cloud snapped back. "What does it matter? Hojo made his point. I wouldn't want him to have to make it again."

Rand nodded slowly at that. "I understand," he spoke softly before making a motion to leave the room again.

Cloud felt something then. Anger that rose up suddenly inside him when the man turned his back on him. The question that had been haunting him was flying from his mouth before he'd given it a second thought.

"You were watching us, weren't you?" he fired at the man's back, his tone clearly accusatory. Rand turned back to face him, one eyebrow perched upward in question. "Me and Sephiroth," Cloud clarified.

"Yes," Rand admitted with a nod. It was a simple answer, no emotion behind it, which had Cloud letting go of the bar in his hands. The weights attached to the cable slide on their guide poles and fell to a stop with a loud bang. Rand's eyes never left his.

"The whole time?" Cloud asked, earning himself another nod.

So it was as he'd feared. Rand had witnessed that horrific night he'd gone through. Had seen Sephiroth's brutal assault. Had watched the monster beat and torture and rape him repeatedly over all those hours. Had watched him bleed and vomit and cry because of it. And done…nothing?

"Has Hojo seen it?" Cloud asked him after wiping some straying tears from his face hastily. He wasn't crying aloud, but his eyes had turned on like little faucets, just for a moment or two.

"He has the recording," Rand told him. "I don't know if he has watched it."

"Did you find it entertaining?" Cloud said next.

"Hardly," Rand denied through a short exhale. "You are my Charge. It is my job to monitor you."

"Monitor?" Cloud echoed and scoffed with disgust. "But not help. Is there anything you would have stopped him from doing?" he dared to ask.

"Outside of him making an attempt on your life, no. And the threat was low," the Keeper explained.

"How did you know?" Cloud challenged.

"Sephiroth has been evaluated many times," Rand began to explain. "He has made it well known that his desires were to confront you with the aim of causing you survivable anguish. He has no desire to kill you. At least not at the moment."

"Did you know what he was going to do?" Cloud asked, knowing the answer could hurt to hear.

"Could I predict his actions?" Rand replied and nodded again. "Some of them."

"Which ones?" Cloud pushed.

"Are you asking if I could predict his commission of a sexually-based attack?" Rand spoke very technically. "No," he stated finally. "That was unexpected." Cloud looked away from him. He feared if he kept looking at Rand's expressionless face while thinking of Sephiroth's attacks that night that he was going to completely lose it and become a sobbing mess again. "Are you alright, C4?" the man asked him, surprising him.

"Am I alright?" he repeated his words with shock and anger laced in his tone. "How can you ask that?! What are you?!" he found himself shouting at Rand. "What has to go wrong—what has to happen to make somebody like you? Do you feel anything ever?"

"You feel with your body, C4. Your receptors. _Emotion_ comes from perception."

Cloud could only stare back at him, his mouth agape. It took a moment for him to be able to speak to such an obscure statement. "There's something wrong with you, Rand," he told the man. "And as much as I hate you for what you're helping Hojo do, I can't help but feel sorry for you. I don't even know you and I know you have nothing to live for that matters."

That statement seemed to strike something in the Keeper. It wasn't a dramatic expression that Rand displayed but there was something subtle in his demeanor that indicated Cloud had touched something in him in some way. So subtle, Cloud wouldn't have been able to describe it if he tried.

The man stepped away from the door and took a few strides toward him, getting close enough that Cloud could smell the hint of cologne he wore. It was very slight but with very little stimulation in his environment and mako-enhanced senses, it seemed stronger to Cloud. Standing in front of Cloud at the bench where he was seated, he lowered himself to a crouch to be nearer to eye-level. In fact, he was lower than eye-level at that point, which had Cloud looking down at him somewhat. It gave him a strange sensation.

"My actions up until now, and the ones that are yet to come are not a reflection of my regard for you, C4," he spoke gently. "You are my Charge," he repeated his earlier statement, "and I care very much for my Charges. But what must be done will be done because that is what must be," he concluded cryptically. He switched tones then, as he switched to a different topic. "While we are having this honest conversation, there is something I'd like to ask you," he told Cloud, still crouched in front of him.

"What?" Cloud asked when he didn't immediate say what the question was.

"I observed something while you were in Sephiroth's room. Something I have not been able to come up with an explanation for. There were several moments when you were…how do I describe it?" he said, glancing upward in thought. "I'd call it catatonic. Something Sephiroth also noticed and within seconds, you were both exhibiting the same… _catatonic_ state. It lasted less than a minute, after which Sephiroth warned you not to do whatever it was you did again, and that you couldn't escape from him. Tell me, C4, what was he talking about?"

Cloud sat frozen in front of him. Only his mind was moving, racing as he tried to think of something to say. Some explanation. He couldn't tell the truth. He wasn't stupid enough to think Rand wasn't going to repeat everything he said to Hojo. If Hojo knew that somehow he had the ability to leave his body to visit and communicate with Zack in some strange mental world, the man was going to have him tied down and his skull cut open to understand what was happening in his brain. He knew nothing. That was his story and so his simple answer to Rand was, "I have no idea what you're talking about."


	17. Chapter 17

_Hi everyone,  
_

 _This chapter is short and unfortunately not the most eventful but it's a necessary transition into the following chapters, which I'm pretty excited to share with you when they are ready to submit :D_

 _Thanks for all your reviews!_

~Seventeen~

For days Zack had tried to make contact with Cloud but hadn't been able to do it. He didn't know what to make of it. He could only guess and his intuition was telling him Cloud was refusing the connection. He didn't know how he was able to do it though. When Zack thought about what it had felt like when Cloud called him to the plane, he didn't believe he'd have been able to stop it.

The effort of trying repeatedly to pull his friend into that connection left him feeling exhausted for much of his waking hours. He had worried himself literally sick over the thought of Cloud being stuck someplace with Sephiroth. He had also been going mad with questions over how Sephiroth had survived and where he'd been all the time he and Cloud had been locked up in the mansion. Hojo had never mentioned Sephiroth surviving. In fact, he'd made mention more than once how unhappy he was that Cloud had killed him. Cloud had been so terrified the last time he'd seen him and given the power the ex-general seemed to have, the ability to cause pain even on the plane, had him stir-crazy wondering what condition Cloud was in at that moment.

Indeed, Cloud had known Zack was trying to get through to him but he'd been keeping that door tightly shut. Physically it hadn't been hard to do. All he did was think of anything but Zack to keep from being pulled out of his body from where he was. Mentally, it was much more difficult for him to accomplish. He wanted to see Zack. In some ways he felt he needed to, but he was being watched by Rand and possibly Hojo or others in the lab. Outside of that, he didn't want to enter that other world in the chance Sephiroth was there waiting.

He didn't know how to describe it, but he knew the monster was stewing and thinking hard about him. He could feel it. A prodding sensation in the back of his brain. Like the man was trying to pry his way through past a barricade. It worried him, had him wondering if Sephiroth could pull him into that other world the way Zack had been able to. For days, he worked to think of neither of them. It was in the middle of the night, in his sleep, however, that Zack found a way in. He heard his name being said and opened his eyes not to his cell but to the image of his friend's face, his eyes heavy with concern.

"Hey, buddy," Zack said to him softly from where he sat closely next to Cloud.

"Hey," Cloud said back to him, only staring up at him, not bothering to sit himself up.

"You been ignoring me?" his friend asked with a slight smile.

"Trying to," Cloud admitted seriously.

"How come?" Zack inquired at that.

"I'm being watched," Cloud told him.

Zack scoffed. "Hojo's a moron. He's not going to notice anything."

 _It's not Hojo_ , is what Cloud wanted to say back, but he knew that would only prompt more questions that he didn't feel like answering at that moment. He looked away from Zack, his eyes focusing instead on the void above them.

"Are you okay, Spikey?" Zack asked him "It was really hard not knowing what was happening after we were separated." He watched as Cloud just blinked a few times, still not looking at him. "Seph broke my hand," he told Cloud with his own gaze toward the empty space above.

At that, Cloud turned to look at him. "He did?"

Zack nodded slightly and met his eyes again. "You're not still with him are you?" he asked and he watched as Cloud shook his head before emotion suddenly overcame him and he shut his eyes tightly as tears began rushing for escape.

"Sorry," Cloud got out at a whisper. Zack reached out to comfort him but he wouldn't let him. "I'm okay," he assured Zack.

"What happened?" Zack asked him and he shook his head.

"Nothing," he said barely audibly.

"What happened?" Zack repeated gently.

"Nothing," Cloud said again a little louder before motioning to cover his face with his one arm, wanting to shield his leaking eyes from view. Zack took hold of his forearm, stopping him.

"He hurt you," Zack said sadly. "I know that." He waited for Cloud to respond but he was reluctant. "Please give me something, Spikey. Talk to me," he urged.

"Give you?" Cloud echoed, his brow becoming furrowed. "What can I give you, Zack?" he asked as he jerked his arm back and struggled to sit himself up finally. "Why don't you just take what you want from me?" his friend asked bitterly. "Take like everyone else. Like Hojo, Vallow, Mailer, Sephiroth!"

Zack was taken aback. He shook his head slowly. "Cloud-" he began to reply but Cloud cut him off fast. What he said came down on him like a pile of bricks.

"His puppet. You heard him call me that. That's what he kept calling me while he had me under him. While he was tearing me up inside. When he forced himself into me any way he could. That's all I am. All I have been and all I am to these people. Some fucking puppet. My whole life. The Academy, the army, the mansion, this place. They force my hand. Force shit on me I can't control and I let it happen from the very beginning. I wanted to be a soldier and now they'll hold me to it while they search for that ultimate weakness in me that they know will break."

Zack was shocked. He didn't know what to say for a moment. He tried again to reach out, hoping to at least place a hand on his friend's shoulder, but Cloud wasn't having it. "Don't," he said fast.

"Don't do it," Zack warned him gently, shaking his head slowly. "Don't push me away, Spike. You know me. You know I don't want to hurt you like them. I would _never_ hurt you like them," he promised, though Cloud had to know that already.

Cloud looked at him straight and said "Not control me?"

Zack scooted himself a few inches closer. "So many times I tried to guide you but control you? Never. On my mother I swear to you, Spike, I've only ever wanted to protect you. Since I've known you, that's all I've tried to do. I know I screwed up sometimes when trying but I never meant to hurt you. Never. You're my best friend, buddy. I would do anything for you."

Cloud smiled a little unexpectedly as he looked down toward his feet. "Anything but forget about me."

"That's not possible," Zack said. He watched Cloud wipe at his eyes a little. "Buddy, I'm so sorry," he said, his own voice breaking a little. Though Cloud hadn't exactly spelled it out, it was clear what had happened with Sephiroth. While it was difficult to imagine, somehow he could believe Sephiroth capable of something so heinous. The man had turned to something more beast than human in those last days in Nibelheim.

This thing, this crime that Cloud had been subjected to at the hands of more than one man since he was barely sixteen years old, struck so many cords in Zack, it was difficult to breathe. Every emotion he had was amplified instantly when he thought of it happening. When Mailer had admitted to forcing himself on his friend, it had enraged him, drew out of him something he didn't know he was capable of doing to another person. He'd wanted the man to suffer to the very last second of his life. He made sure he did. Sephiroth having touched Cloud that way was worse. Sephiroth was once someone he trusted and looked up to. He had brought the man into Cloud's life. The emotions he had over that thought were crushing.

Lowering his head a little, Cloud leaned toward him and Zack took the opportunity to put his left arm around him and pull him a little closer.

"I have a bad feeling, Zack," his friend said quietly. "Hojo's going to win this time."

"Like hell he is," Zack said back fast. "You can fight him, Spike."

"He'll give me to Sephiroth again. Every night. He said he would." Cloud looked up towards Zack, meeting his eyes again. "I can't take it, Zack. Beatings. Starvation. Isolation...maybe I can take that kind of torture. I can't take Sephiroth's."

Zack took his words in slowly. They were hard to digest. It was agonizing to imagine any of those pains being suffered by Cloud and it really hit him hard that those things were probably the tortures his friend had been suffering through since Hojo had had him back in his grasp. After a few moments of heavy silence, Zack dropped his arm from Cloud's shoulder and turned himself slightly to face his friend. He placed his hands on either side of Cloud's head and looked at him squarely. He looked into Cloud's eyes that were like turbulent pools filled deep with anxiety and shame. Shame for things that had happened. For things that were yet to come…

The image of his friend blurred a little as his own eyes were welling up with tears. He knew his suffering was nothing compared to Cloud's. His days were spent dwelling in worry over Cloud and his own feeling of uselessness. His nights were filled with terrorizing nightmares but he couldn't convey that pain to Cloud, who had been through so much more. So much he didn't even know about. Things that Cloud may never tell him. Zack would have taken his place in a heartbeat. He'd spent hours praying that by some miracle he'd wake up one morning in his place. One of the things he'd never dealt well with, even before meeting Cloud, was inaction. Being forced to sit idle when something should be done. No, he couldn't voice his pain to Cloud, but he couldn't hide it either. In a second's time his tears were on their way down over the skin of his cheeks.

"Zack," Cloud said his name sadly. Before he could say anything else, Zack spoke.

"Do what you have to do to survive until I can get to you," he told Cloud sternly.

"If it means doing what they want?" Cloud questioned slowly.

"Yes," Zack confirmed. "Whatever you feel you need to do to protect yourself. Just so long as you don't give up," he said by way of order. He didn't wait for Cloud to agree. "Is Reno there?" he asked Cloud as he lowered his hands from his friend's head.

Cloud nodded. "Did you send him?" he asked and Zack shook his head in return.

"The Turks did," he told Cloud. "But he promised me if he finds a way to safely get information back to us that he will. We aren't giving up on getting to you. He thinks he's being tested though and it's probably true. He can't give them any reason to believe he's disloyal."

"I get it," Cloud said with another short nod. "What about Tseng?" he asked, taking the opportunity while he had it, though he was afraid to know the answer.

"He's alive but he's had a rough recovery apparently," Zack explained, prompting a subtle sigh of relief from Cloud. "On official record he said you attacked him. You didn't though, did you?"

"It doesn't matter," Cloud said back fast. "It was my fault."

"No, I know you Spikey, you wouldn't hurt him by choice," Zack said reassuringly.

"Maybe you don't know me, Zack!" Cloud fired back at him fast. "You know, I…I shot some of the Turks that were with him that day. I think I—I mean I know I probably killed them," he stuttered out. "For what? Just to…"

Zack waited for him to finish his confessing statement, but instead his friend seemed to sink in defeat. Zack was about to say something to assure him that he was only acting in self-defence when Cloud finally continued.

"Please don't pull me back here, Zack," he said, his words surprising and confusing Zack a little.

"Because you're being watched?" Zack questioned slowly. "Buddy, what does it matter?" he asked.

"Can you just trust me when I say it does matter?" Cloud said back with frustration, though his words took on a sudden tone of rising panic. "I'm dealing with a lot out there right now, I don't need one more thing—"

Zack cut him off quickly. "Okay, I'm sorry. I won't try to contact you. Will you contact me? If you can?" he asked instead.

"Yeah," Cloud agreed softly. "Sure." He wasn't looking at Zack as he said it.

"I guess then I should—" Zack began to say by way of reluctant farewell.

"Zack," Cloud said fast, almost urgently.

"Yeah, Spikey."

"While we're here now, could you lay with me a little while…like at home?" he asked almost hesitantly.

Zack smiled, feeling relieved that he wasn't going to have to leave Cloud feeling like he was leaving with more tension between them. As he was laying on his side, facing toward Cloud and holding onto him like he had in the past in their apartment he felt his relief falling away. He had a bad feeling settling into the pit of his stomach, like he was holding his friend for the last time…


	18. Chapter 18

_Hey guys,  
_

 _A VERY special thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and thank you guys for coming back to read and to those of you who come back often to re-read past chapters while waiting for the new ones. Sorry this took so long. I have two chapters to submit but Chapter Nineteen still needs edited so I'll wait to upload that until sometime (probably later) this week. I work outside in the summer, long hours, up at 4 am, passed out by 7 pm kind of deal so writing is for weekends lol. I also recently had an eye injury. Have any of you ever gotten something so stuck in your eye that it needed to be physically removed by a doctor who has to do some creepy eyelid peel-back procedure? I don't recommend it. I also don't recommend a flushing procedure that involves a plastic cup-like device inserted directly over the eye-ball, or a scratched cornea, or anything to do with injured eyeballs. Remember some of the eyeball stuff from Reduced to Specimens? Eyeballs are gross. The end._

~Eighteen~

Reno hadn't taken his promise to Zack lightly. Although he didn't like Zack, he wasn't going to go out of his way to screw him over, and though he really hated to admit it, part of him felt indebted to him and Cloud. He hated feeling like he owed something to them. He wasn't about to go back on his word. Still…the facility was airtight as far as he could tell. It would be easier to break into the restricted areas of Shinra HQ and assassinate the president than it would be to get Cloud out of the Gongaga facility.

There was no cell service in the facility and even if there were, anything he said on a phone line would likely be heard. That made getting any info back to Zack basically impossible until he could get back on the mainland. He was scheduled for 24 hour leave back to land in another few days. Until then, he could only observe what went on in the facility. As for his official business, he was pretty sure he knew who the _hidden_ employee was but he hadn't had contact with him yet. He'd seen him on surveillance footage, mostly in Cloud's cell.

There was a certain part of the facility that seemed to be restricted. He was told that the door which was perpetually locked only led to Cloud's cell which was restricted to nearly everyone but he suspected there was more beyond the door than that. Though he knew Hojo would probably have something to say about it if he found out, he decided to follow behind one of the lab assistants the one morning when he was wheeling in a cart that looked like it had food on it, probably for Cloud. He could be very quiet so he wasn't worried. He slipped in after him into a hallway where the assistant took a right and he took an immediate left, heading instead for a door at the end of the hall.

Beyond the door was a set of stairs that he climbed slowly. He assumed the door at the top of the stairs would be locked but surprisingly it wasn't. Inside was his mystery man, who gave him a very perplexed look when he opened the door.

"Can I help you?" he asked as Reno looked around at the wall of monitors and the various electronic equipment

"Quite the room," Reno said back with a smirk. "You know, I thought I'd seen the security hub already. It didn't look anything like this." The man began to rise from his seat then. "No don't get up," Reno told him.

Settling himself back down the man asked instead, "Would you like to have a seat?" He gestured across the desk in front of him at one of the two visitor chairs.

"Sure," Reno said with a nod before sitting himself down in the closest one.

The man smiled at him and placed his folded hands on the desktop in front of him. "I'd heard we had a Turk milling about somewhere," he commented.

"Funny, no one mentioned _you_ ," Reno replied quickly. "The name's Reno," he added, reaching across the desk with an open hand.

"I'm Rand," the mystery man introduced himself back as he took Reno's hand in his own.

"Just Rand?" Reno questioned.

"Just Reno?" Rand quipped back, drawing a grin from Reno.

"Of which company are you…affiliated with?" Reno asked him.

"Right now? Shinra," Rand told him.

"Don't remember seeing your name on the list of authorized personnel," Reno pointed out.

"Maybe you weren't looking at the right list," Rand suggested almost smugly. Something about it rubbed Reno the wrong way.

"So what's your story?" he asked.

"My story?" Rand echoed, his face becoming serious and his brow furrowing slightly.

"What do you do?" Reno clarified.

"I specialize in behavioral therapy."

Reno nodded a little though he was sure his expression showed his skepticism. "Mind me asking what you're job here is?"

The man took a deep breath before answering. "I am assisting Professor Hojo with his current Alpha project."

"Which means what?" Reno pushed.

"What is it I can help you with, Reno?" Rand asked back, his tone showing something of a building annoyance suddenly.

"I'm just making the rounds, meeting all the employees. I might be here awhile so I thought I should…"

With a nod Rand finished his sentence. "Familiarize yourself?"

"You got it," Reno said with a charming smile. "So you, uh, assist with the project?" he inquired but Rand said nothing and gave no indication of confirmation. "Doing what?" Reno asked.

"My primary task is to observe the specimen and advise on procedure," Rand told him plainly.

"Procedure? Like what?" Reno spoke curiously.

The man smiled back. "Well, if you're going to be here awhile then I suppose you will see."

Reno could tell that was the most information he was going to get out of the man, at least for the time being. It was coming up on a week since he'd been deployed to the facility. Fortunately, that meant he was going to be able to get off the island for a day. That was looking to be his best chance to communicate what he'd found out to Zack. He didn't have a direct number to Zack though and even if he did he couldn't make that call. His line wasn't secure. Any call he made to the slums was going to seem strange to anyone who caught wind of it. So, he had Rude search out Zack for him with the plan to call him once the ex-SOLDIER had been found.

That day, Zack was over at Tifa's with Aerith, helping with moving stock into the bar and empty bottles out of it. They were all a little surprised to see Rude when he arrived.

"What are you doing here?" Zack asked him. The Turk took off his sunglasses and slipped them into the one pocket on the breast of his suit jacket.

"Reno sent me," he told Zack. "You guys had some sort of arrangement."

"What do you know about it? I told _him_ to contact me, not you," Zack said back sharply. Rude ignored his inquiry, retrieving his cell phone instead and dialling a number.

"It's me," Rude spoke into the phone after a moment. "Yeah. Here. My line's secure." He reached the phone out toward Zack then.

Zack looked at it before glancing at Tifa and Aerith. "Speaker," Zack directed Rude softly.

With a sigh, Rude complied. "You're on speaker, partner," he said before placing the phone on a table nearby.

"Who's all there?" Reno's voice asked.

"Fair, Tifa, and Aerith," Rude told him.

"Where are you, Reno?" Zack asked.

"Where do you think?" Reno snapped back, making Zack roll his eyes.

"So, you got a message out, that's promising," he commented.

"Not exactly," Reno replied. "Day pass to the mainland," he said.

"You see him?" was Zack's next question.

"Yeah, once," Reno confirmed. "When I first got here."

Zack was hesitant to ask his following question but he needed to know. "Did he look okay?"

Reno scoffed at his question. "You've been in Hojo's hands, Fair, you know what he looks like. He was conscious. Be happy for that."

"What island is he on?"

"Cosa. Look. I know what you want to know and I hate to be the shithead who tells you what you already know deep down but there's no way you're getting into that place unless you're planning on giving yourself up in surrender."

"That's not happening—" Tifa began to say.

"Not that I recommend it," Reno cut her off before she could finish. "From what I can tell, you don't have any place in Hojo's project anymore."

Zack shook his head slowly. "There has to be some way in. Fake identification, blind spots…"

"Let me paint a picture for you," Reno said fast, almost impatiently. "Strife is in a cell for nearly twenty-four hours of the day, which is in Hojo's lab in a facility a half-mile underground—er water, whatever, something. Every inch of the facility is under surveillance, constantly. There are less than thirty employees with clearance in the facility which is accessed only through facial recognition, and retina and fingerprint scanning. Strife is locked down with a tracker chip at all times and he is watched, _at all times_. Strife's tracker knows when he's not in his cell and there are sensors in the cell that detect when there is and isn't someone in it. If he's not in it when he's supposed to be, people know about it."

"No," Zack said, refusing to believe it was hopeless. "There has to be a weakness somewhere. Hojo isn't as smart as he thinks he is."

"Yeah well, he hired some help," Reno announced.

"Who?" Zack wondered.

"Guy named Rand," Reno answered with a tone like a verbal shrug. "From what I can see, his entire job is overseeing what goes on with Strife. He's sharp, smart, and someone Hojo feels confident in leaving his project to when he can't be present."

"Who is this guy? Where'd he come from?"

"I've got nothing. He might as well be a ghost," Reno remarked. "Said he was a, a behavioral therapist or some shit. I'm trying to access his employee file. Anyway, that's all I got for you."

"So…you've only seen Cloud once," Zack questioned sadly.

"Behind thick glass," Reno replied. He paused before saying, "At the risk of sounding like an asshole or stepping out of line…unless you can manage some impossible miracle that you know you can pull off, you should stay away from him. All things considered, I think he's fine right now. He's dealing with his situation in his own way. I've been kept updated on his status and he's not going through any major experimental shit right now. There's no screaming or emergency surgeries if you catch my drift."

"You're positive?" Zack asked him.

"One hundred percento," Reno reaffirmed. "If anything changes I'll try to get another message back."

"Alright," Zack said, feeling disappointment already sinking into him. "Thanks."

There was a heavy silence in the room until Rude departed the bar again. Tifa was the first to speak then.

"So that's it, we just give up on Cloud?" she spoke in a clearly angry tone.

"Of course not," Aerith said calmly.

"Then what are we going to do?" Tifa asked, looking Zack's way, watching as he only stared into some invisible distance. "Zack!" she called his way but he didn't look at her.

"I…" he began but felt his throat suddenly constricting. Panic. He felt it closing in on him.

"Don't worry, Tifa," Aerith spoke for him. "We'll come up with something." She looked at Zack, placing her hand on his back to reassure him. "Reno could have missed something. He's not a SOLDIER, he's a Turk. He doesn't think like a SOLDIER."

Maybe she was right, Zack thought to himself. Of course, she probably was. SOLDIERs had a way of getting into places that were thought impenetrable but somehow he was having a hard time letting go of the feeling of helplessness that seemed attached to his ankles like giant weights. He may have been a SOLDIER once, but it had been years. His brain felt three parts civilian and one part trauma victim now.

Slowly, Zack rose to his feet. "I have to get out of here for a while," he stated softly, mostly to Aerith.

"I'll come with you," she told him and he shook his head.

"I'll see you later at home, I just need to think alone for a while." He leaned in to give her a quick kiss. He looked at Tifa squarely before leaving. "I'm not giving up on Cloud. I don't know how to." He caught a subtle roll of her eyes as she looked away from him. "Hey," he said sharply, pulling her gaze back. "I'm going to figure this out."

"You alone?" she replied.

"I'm open to ideas if you ever have a bright one," he said back fast. He knew immediately he was out of line and should apologize but he didn't. He left the bar without making eye-contact with Aerith, knowing what type of expression he'd be faced with if he did. Something between concern and disapproval.

Once alone outside, he did something that he hadn't done of his own free will in years. He went for a run. It was something he did frequently when he was in SOLDIER. It wasn't just something he did for conditioning but it was something that used to help him relax and think less, which generally helped him to think better afterward. Things were a little different now. He was nowhere near to the shape he was in back in those days and for the first few minutes of his jog all he could think about were the treadmills in the mansion that he and Cloud had been forced to run on.

He shoved his thoughts on that deep down and tried to think of nothing instead. Nothing except what he was feeling physically. He didn't even want to tap into his emotions or mental state. He had been trying his hardest to look put-together or at least semi-stable but he was truly a mess on the inside. He couldn't even look himself in the mirror anymore because all he found staring back at him was someone he considered a failure in so many ways and a chicken shit in others. He couldn't even face the boxes of notes and tapes that were sitting at the home he shared with Aerith. Cloud had been braver than that. And he'd been brave enough to stand his ground when he'd tried to make his friend leave Midgar.

It had been impossible to clear his thoughts as he ran the first few minutes, but as he found his breathing becoming labored and his body beginning to ache, he thought instead about how out of shape he was. He actively had to control his breathing to keep himself going. There was a time when he could keep a conversation going while running.

 _Relax_ , he reminded himself, paying attention only to the rhythm of his breathing for another few minutes. His body wanted him to stop but he couldn't, or wouldn't. Even as he felt pain in his chest and dizziness in his head. He didn't stop until he felt like he was about to be sick. He almost was. The sudden nausea and the lingering dizziness had him sitting himself down where he was on the curb of an emptied road in the slums. He dropped his forehead to his arms while he panted hard and his sweating body trembled. He'd run himself nearly to the point of collapse. It hadn't taken long. He never would have thought he'd find himself weaker outside of the mansion than when he was in it. The thought had him laughing a little at the madness of it before he thought once more about Cloud.

He needed to get Cloud out of Hojo's facility. From what Reno had said, there was no way he was getting into that place to get his friend out. The only people who could get access to the facility were people who were supposed to be there. For a moment his brain actually told him to consider plastic surgery that would make him look like someone different who, with a forged background, could get into the place. _Stupid_ , he scolded himself. So if there was no way to successfully break into the facility, the only other option was for Cloud to break out of it. But there were things that ultimately prevented that. Locked doors, locked elevators, surveillance, sensors, and trackers. People were less of an issue. Cloud was stronger than he gave himself credit for. He'd seen Cloud take down a number of people at once. In his heart he was a fighter and according to Reno there were less than thirty people in that whole facility. No it wasn't people that were stopping him necessarily. It was the technology of the place and the associated belief that escape was impossible.

The technology…

"That's the way," Zack said to himself as he raised his head suddenly. The way, maybe the only way, to rescue Cloud was to make it possible for him to escape. But how to make it happen? He needed to know a lot more about the facility than what Reno had told him. Ideal infiltration of a building during a SOLDIER mission meant having engineering plans of the structure. Electrical, plumbing, anything and everything. He was also going to need to get control of the surveillance system. It wasn't going to be anywhere near as easy to get those things. If they had been difficult to get in SOLDIER, they would be nearly impossible to get as a civilian. The one good thing was that the facility was a Shinra facility so Shinra must have the plans. Hopefully they were all digitized somewhere. He would need to talk to Kunsel. In the meantime, he called his next best option.

"Hey, Six," Zack said when he'd got Johnny on the phone. "I think I've got a plan for springing Cloud."

"What can I do?" Johnny asked him.

"How are your hacking skills?" Zack inquired.

"Virtually non-existent, but I know a guy," Johnny told him.

"A guy who can hack into one of the most secure systems in the world? Shinra."

"One who can try," Johnny replied. "You know, big corporations like Shinra have some pretty heavy firewalls to get through. Depending on what you're trying to do, it can take some time."

"I know," Zack said back, thinking of how some missions in SOLDIER had taken months of preparation. "It's better than sitting around waiting for some easier solution to magically appear."

"I'll try to get a hold of him today," Johnny promised. "I'll arrange a meeting so you can let him know what you need access to."

"Thanks, Six," Zack said.

After talking with Johnny, he sat a few minutes where he was. On his way back home he felt hopeful, if only a little. At the very least, he felt he had done something, started something. He wanted to see Cloud. He thought about trying to reach him on the plane but he couldn't do it. Cloud had asked him not to contact him that way. No amount of temptation could make him go back on his word. For whatever reason, Cloud felt it was dangerous and he wasn't going to do anything to further jeopardize his friend. He needed to do what was best for Cloud and he needed to do what was best for himself. He couldn't deny the past, couldn't hide from any of it. If the past was his enemy—and that's what it felt like—he needed to face it head-on. That's what Cloud had done.

 _No turning back now_ , Zack told himself as he was sitting at home with the first of many files in front of him on the coffee table. With a deep sigh, he opened the file folder to the first page of Hojo's scrawled notes he'd taken in the mansion.


	19. Chapter 19

~Nineteen~

 _Property of Shinra_.

Cloud read the tiny words embossed into the black band adhered to his arm. He'd read them thousands of times before as he lay bored on the bed in his cell and had never really given them much thought. It had been nearly three months since the band had been put on him and it had taken almost just as long for his body to get used to the plastic foreign object that was almost embedded into his skin. His arm no longer itched at the site and the blisters and rashes he'd endured because of it had finally healed. The acceptance of the band by his body seemed to mirror his reluctant acceptance of his situation.

It had been over a month since he'd seen or spoken to Zack. Over a month since Zack had told him to do whatever he had to to protect himself where he was. Protecting himself meant general compliance in the lab. He did what was expected of him without question. He complied with the daily schedule set up for him. He ate, slept, and showered when he was supposed to. He accepted without a fight the transfusions of grey milky liquid that were given to him daily and he participated in the board and card games that Rand would come to play with him to keep his mind sharp.

He didn't want to admit it but once he began to accept his daily routine, and once the torture was limited only to the physical discomfort he felt during the transfusions, he found there were things he looked forward to. Things he began to depend upon to keep his sanity while isolated from the world and the people he had left behind. He looked forward to his time with Rand because it filled the hours when he felt the most restless. What he looked forward to more were those few hours he was allowed access to the fitness room. Those hours became _his_ time. Even though he was positive he was under surveillance while in the room, the room felt private.

It was in that fitness room that he allowed himself to think of all the horrific memories that he actively tried to block out of his head all the other hours of the day. The experiments, the pain he'd endured in the past and present, his lost freedom, Sephiroth…

Facing and coming to grips with the things Sephiroth had said and done to him, and the things he said he wanted to do had made that first week after hell. He couldn't sleep, food was difficult to keep down, and the physical pain he was in was a constant reminder of the trauma he'd sustained. Not only that, but it was a reminder of all the abuse in his past as well. The things that scared him and hurt him to think about became the fuel that he used when conditioning his body every day. His fear became encapsulated in hatred. Hatred for the ones who hurt him and even for himself. Focusing on the things he hated about himself made it easier to force change in his body. His fitness was the one thing within his control.

He wasn't the only person who noticed his body growing stronger. Rand, his watchful Keeper, noticed and though he hadn't seen Hojo for weeks, he was sure the man knew of his progress. Someone, likely Hojo, had approved a menu change that found him getting more food and types of food he hadn't seen since being locked up in his cell. Foods that encouraged his physical progress. That gave him more energy to push himself harder and harder. He took advantage of all of it and promised himself he'd _never_ allow himself to get that physically weak ever again.

The click of his cell door opening and the time on the clock in the wall pulled him from his thoughts and told him it was time for a visit from his Keeper. He sat himself up on his bed, positioning himself for whatever game they were about to play for the next hour. He really hoped if wasn't a chess day. Instead of entering the room though, Rand stood in the doorway. His hands were empty. No folding chair. No game case. Something was different. Cloud found himself almost immediately breaking into a worried sweat. Almost any time something was different it was a bad thing.

"Good day, C4," Rand greeted him but he didn't return the greeting. "Come, we're going for a little trip," he said, beckoning Cloud to come to the door a short distance from where he was sitting.

"Why? Where?" Cloud asked, reluctant to move. He was suddenly aware he was gripping the edge of the mattress in his hands.

"It's a nice day for it," Rand replied. "Come on," he urged when Cloud remained hesitant. "It's nothing bad," the Keeper assured him finally.

At that statement, Cloud finally made himself stand and follow Rand out of his cell into the metal room. He found himself being walked out into the hall that led to the other places he'd been familiarized with. The room of coffins, Rand's office, the fitness room, the lab. There was one door that he'd never gone through though and that's where Rand was leading them. Beyond the door was a small room or area and on the other side of it a single elevator door. Cloud found himself logging that information into his brain immediately. Every day he had been released from his cell to go to the fitness room without escort. All this time there had been a door that led to an elevator which perhaps somehow led to the outside world?

Elevators led to more sinister things in that place however. Things deep below where he was standing. A scathing ex-general who'd seemed consumed with anger and lusting for revenge…

 _It's a trick_ , Cloud thought suddenly as the elevator door opened and Rand began ushering him toward it. He wouldn't allow himself to be moved, taking a step backward instead, back the way they'd come.

"C4—" Rand began to command him forward but he shook his head and refused to move.

"What did I do?" he found his words coming out of him laced with the rising panic he felt.

Rand had to place his hand on the elevator door to keep it from shutting before he looked back at Cloud. "You don't need to be afraid," Rand spoke reassuringly. "I'm not taking you somewhere to be harmed." He made sure the elevator door was going to stay open before taking a few steps away from it so he could take a gentle hold of Cloud's left arm and pull him toward it. "Trust me," he said.

Cloud certainly didn't trust him but so far, in the time he'd spent with Rand, the Keeper hadn't deceived him in any way. Still, he couldn't keep his apprehension from rising as he was standing in the elevator, watching the door shut them into it. Immediately, a rush of relief went through him when he felt the elevator moving upward, away from the hell he knew existed below. He noticed on the button panel that there were two floors above the one where the lab and his cell were. He wondered what was on them. It was a fair distance from there to the point at which they stopped. Outside the elevator, he was led through two more locked security doors before Rand unlocked a third and stepped aside.

"After you," he said, taking Cloud by surprise.

"Why?" Cloud asked him.

"While the professor believes only in punishment for wrong behaviour, I believe in reward when the behaviour is good. You've been doing very well, C4. Thus, you should be rewarded for it." He gestured again to the door, telling Cloud with the tilt of his head to open it.

Cloud glanced apprehensively from the door back to Rand. "What's in there?" he asked.

The Keeper smiled. "Not _in_ , it's out." Cloud shook his head, not understanding. "It's the world," he said simply. "You've been asking what it is like outside. Now you may see for yourself," he told Cloud.

Cloud was shocked. "You're letting me outside?" he asked, still doubtful. He still felt he was being tricked in some way.

"Yes," Rand confirmed. "For a short time."

It didn't make any sense to him but he decided to play along, taking the handle of the door in his hand and pushing the door open.

He was met immediately with a gust of hot air and a wall of heat. It startled him and almost struck him with a phantom pain, not having had the sensation of heat from the sun on him in so long. He found himself stumbling forward a few steps, unable to keep his eyes open against the light. He had to shield them with his hands. For a minute, all he had were his other senses to take in information. It felt like summer and it was someplace hotter than he'd ever travelled to. There was a smell in the air, like salt and the sounds…The cries of seabirds, the crashing of waves. The ocean. They must have been somewhere on a coastline.

Very slowly, he lowered his hands from his eyes and forced them open, looking first at the hot pavement beneath his bare feet. Nearby he saw grass that he walked himself onto and felt the coolness of it ease his heated skin. As his eyes slowly adjusted to the lighting, he looked around at all he could see. Before him he could see a patio with benches and several well-groomed gardens, all of it contained inside a wall that was at least ten feet high. So high it kept him from seeing what was beyond it. That fact did not distract him from what he could see and it couldn't block out the perfect azure sky above. He was so happy to see it in that moment he could have cried. After taking a short walk around the gardens, he sat himself down on one of the benches and slid down in it to rest the back of his neck against the back rest, letting it cradle his head while he watched the clouds moving slowly overhead. After a minute, Rand came to sit next to him.

"I know it is difficult to only be told what to do," the man said. Cloud nodded without looking at him.

"I don't have free will right?" he replied with his tone void of emotion, not even a hint of the bitterness he felt discernable.

Rand hummed in agreement then spoke again. "Your mind tells you what it was like though and that's not easy," he acknowledged. "I know you have questions so for the time we are out here you may ask anything and I will answer if I can," he offered.

"Any question?" Cloud inquired as he turned his head to look at him.

"Yes," Rand confirmed.

Eyes fixed on the sky again, Cloud said "I just want to know why. The reason I'm here. That's all I care about."

"You already know why, I've told you that. You just need to say it."

Cloud thought about his words. He sat himself up straight again and glanced at the Keeper once before fixing his eyes on the garden ahead of them.

"Am I meant to be a weapon?" he asked, the words dropping from his mouth before he really thought them over.

"You already are to an extent," Rand told him, the answer confusing him. "You and Z1 were weaponized some time ago."

"How? Jenova?" Cloud questioned.

The man lifted his right arm to rest it on the back of the bench and turned his body slightly toward Cloud. "Yes. In addition, you were administered a part-biological, part-synthetic drug called Seraph, which was meant to compliment the Jenova cells. They are supposed to work together. Seraph was supposed to enhance the effects of the Jenova cells and manifest its power in certain capabilities."

"Like what?" Cloud asked a little nervously.

Rand smiled back at him as he lifted his sunglasses from his eyes and pushed them up on his head. "It's a little science fiction. You sure you want to know?" he asked Cloud back. Cloud gave a subtle nod and Rand shrugged a little. "Things like telepathy, telekinesis, psychic abilities, elemental manipulation."

Cloud scoffed gently. "How surprising it hasn't worked," he remarked.

"Well the problem is in the union between Seraph and Jenova," Rand began to explain. "They are counterparts but they are meant to harmonize, only they haven't in either you or Z1. Interestingly, you bonded well with the Jenova cells but you reject Seraph. Z1 demonstrated the opposite."

Cloud hardly believed what he was being told. If this was the ultimate goal for Hojo, to make him move objects and read minds, it was even stupider than he'd anticipated. "So what, he can move things with his mind and just doesn't know it?" he asked about Zack with clear skepticism.

"Technically, he could and he already did once," Rand answered to his surprise. "The night you both escaped the mansion in Nibelheim."

Cloud had to think hard about what he knew of that night. Then, the video footage he'd seen from the lab in Nibelheim came into his mind. The blinding flash of light. Zack on the floor of the lab, the glass of the testing cylinder he'd been confined to smashed to pieces.

"He broke the testing cylinder?" Cloud spoke in question, though it had to be the truth. No one else had been in the room when it happened.

"Yes," Rand said with a nod. "But it isn't likely he could repeat the action, not without injury or illness. As I said, Seraph was manufactured specifically to compliment the Jenova cells. It is unstable otherwise. Difficult to control and Jenova ensures recovery from the exertion."

Cloud suspended his disbelief for a moment to actually believe the words "So I have this thing in me?" he inquired softly.

"Not now," Rand said. "Jenova consumed whatever was there after the rejection. A new strain of Seraph has been developed, which is what you will receive."

Cloud shook his head in disbelief. "So then everything else...what's being done to me now is just...conditioning?"

"Mmhm," Rand confirmed. "Sounds simple. But you're not the right kind of soldier yet," he said through a grin.

"What happens if I am? Is there some specific mission I'm being conditioned for?" Cloud questioned next.

"I'm sure there is, but I can't tell you," Rand said back.

"Why?"

"Because I don't know," the Keeper said simply.

Cloud found himself looking toward the sky and thinking of how badly he could use a pair of wings in that moment. "How will you know if I'm ready?" he asked.

"You will act without question, even if it doesn't fit with your personal moral code," Rand informed him.

There was no way. He had done some pretty terrible things, but not without question. He would never act like some mindless puppet. Not while he was sane and in control of his brain.

Cloud faced him once more. "What if none of it works?" he challenged. "The new Seraph? What if there's no union and I can't fly around and move things by thinking it?"

"I never mentioned flying..." Rand said with some amusement.

"What then?" Cloud pushed him to answer.

"Then something new will be manufactured and tested until something does work. We could be spending many years together C4," Rand concluded.

It wasn't a comforting thought. It also wasn't an unrealistic one. It had taken four years for Hojo to 'develop' him and Zack into what they were now—maybe two subtracting the time they were apparently held in 'storage.' A new feeling of despair was quick to begin setting in to him. He felt as if he'd just become physically smaller somehow. Rand must have noticed as Cloud saw the man move his arm from the back of the bench as if he were about to place his hand on Cloud's shoulder in a reassuring gesture. Cloud was quick to shoot an expression his way that told him to think again. The man's hands went instead to rest on his own knees.

"He doesn't say it but Hojo is very happy with you right now," Rand told him after clearing his throat gently.

Crossing his arms in front of him he scoffed once more. "Finally, my goal in life has been achieved."

It earned him another smile from his Keeper.

"Of all the Charges I've had, you are my favourite, C4," was his bright sentiment.

Even if the words had been meant as a compliment, they only made Cloud feel more bound by his situation. He supposed any affection Rand felt for him was good. He didn't know how much of an advantage that was for him however.

"You said that drug, the new strain, it's ready?" Cloud asked and Rand nodded.

"When do I get it?" was his next question.

"Should be any day now."

Something in the man's expression was more telling. "It's tomorrow, isn't it?" Cloud asked.

"I believe so," Rand admitted.

Cloud laughed dryly. "I don't remember getting it the first time," he remarked then.

"No, you were suffering mental impairment at the time. This time will be different," the Keeper spoke surely.

"It's going to be painful, isn't it?" Cloud muttered.

"Yes," Rand confirmed without hesitation.

"How painful?"

"High doses of mako painful," Rand told him. "The biological organism in the current strain of the drug lives in highly concentrated mako. You've been receiving very low doses of mako in your daily transfusions, as a kind of primer for the next infusion stage. You need to reach a higher blood concentration for the drug to be accommodated. Then hopefully your Jenova cells will bond with it."

Cloud shook his head in annoyance. "It's just going to make me sick again. Hojo's a moron," he snapped.

Before Rand could answer him the door to the little courtyard patio suddenly opened, making them both look to see who was coming. Cloud felt his stomach sink hard, fear already setting into him as he imagined Hojo coming through the door and angrily yelling about him being out of his cell somewhere he wasn't supposed to be. _Maybe you need some more time in the box!_ he could almost hear him yelling, even though he wasn't the one who'd gotten himself up to that courtyard. He was sure he'd still be punished for it.

It wasn't Hojo. It wasn't quite what he would consider a 'friendly face' but it was one he was less apprehensive about. Reno. He'd only seen the Turk a few times when the curtain across his cell had been open to the lab. He hadn't had the chance to talk to him at all but he hadn't really felt he needed to since Zack had told him Reno would be trying to help them out if possible.

"Well, well, what's going on out here?" Reno inquired as he let the door to the facility fall shut behind him. "Don't remember this little outdoor time being on the _schedule_ for today," he remarked through a smug expression.

"That would be because you weren't informed," Rand replied casually.

Reno nodded as he reached into his jacket pocket for a cigarette and a lighter. "And the professor?" he questioned. "Was he also overlooked on your list of people to inform?"

"I am not required to run all of my decisions through the professor," Rand told him as Reno lit his cigarette and took a draw from it.

"The specimen is supposed to be restrained when outside the facility. That's not a decision, just a rule," Reno pointed out.

"Well, unfortunately I didn't bring any restraints out with me. Just going to have to rely on the physical barriers in place already," Rand remarked, likely referring to the wall around the courtyard and anything that might be on the other side of it.

"Well lucky for you, I'm always prepared," Reno countered, reaching into an inside pocket in his jacket and pulling from it a set of cuffs.

"No need," Rand said in return, annoyance clear in his tone. He stood from the bench he and Cloud were seated on. "I'm taking him back inside," he said as he took hold of Cloud's arm and pulled on it gently, urging him to a stand as well.

Cloud had to hand it to Reno. He did a good job acting like an asshole. He assumed it was an act in this case...It was difficult to know.

Rand's phone rang from inside his pocket then, making him sigh subtly before reaching for it. It was a different ring than Cloud remembered hearing before. In fact it was a different phone. When he saw it, it occurred to him that there was likely no actual cell service down inside the facility. Any cordless phones in there must have been working on some special facility signal. Rand's hand was still gripping his upper arm as he answered his phone.

"Yeah," he said into it impatiently. "Who's this? How'd you get this number?" There was a pause before he cut off whoever was talking. "I'll need to call you back. I'm engaged in something and will be without a signal in a moment." Another pause. "You've caught me at a bad time—"

Reno stepped toward them. "Sounds serious," he commented.

"Can this wait for—" Rand ignored Reno and attempted to get out of the phone call once more but whoever was on the other end of the line wasn't having it.

"Psst," Reno interrupted.

"Excuse me a second," Rand said into the phone before lowering it and giving his attention to Reno.

"Why don't you just go over there and take your call. Sounds pretty important," the Turk suggested. "Don't worry, I've got this covered," he assured him, 'this' meaning Cloud.

Cloud could tell Rand was reluctant but he must not have had a choice. "Fine," he said, passing Cloud off to Reno. "I'll just be a minute," he assured Reno before moving away from them to the other side of the courtyard. Cloud didn't try to make eye contact with Reno. He watched after the Keeper until Reno was forcing him to turn in the opposite direction.

"Over here," Reno ordered him as he pushed him toward the nearby wall. "Face the wall," he commanded and Cloud did so without resisting. He let Reno place his wrists into cuffs behind his back. "This is the only place without microphones," Reno said with his cigarette between his lips. "You believe that?"

Cloud turned to face him. "Did you somehow arrange the phone call?" he asked, nodding toward Rand.

"I may or may not have been involved," Reno said happily. "Only way I could talk to you."

"You shouldn't," Cloud told him before looking down at his feet.

"Well, how you doing anyway?" Reno asked quietly, glancing once at Rand to make sure he was fully occupied.

Cloud could have fired back at him something along the lines of 'how do you think?' but instead he uttered a soft "Fine."

"You look a lot better than that first day I saw you." the Turk told him. "A lot better," he repeated. Cloud watched Rand but didn't answer. "I talked to Fair a little while ago," Reno added.

"What'd you tell him?" Cloud asked.

"That he shouldn't come looking to break you out right now," Reno replied first but was quick to try and explain himself. "Because—"

"Good," Cloud said, stopping him. "He shouldn't," he added.

"Right now," Reno repeated. "We both know nothing's going to stop him eventually," he said, smirking.

It brought a slight smile to Cloud's face that was erased immediately when he watched Rand dropping his phone from his ear, indicating his conversation was done.

"Reno," Cloud said, turning away from Rand to face him for a brief moment. "I'm sorry about Tseng."

Reno seemed a little taken aback. "He's gonna be fine," he managed to get out to Cloud discretely before Rand could guess anything was up. "Everything good, I hope," he said to Rand as he approached.

"Of course," the man replied. "You mind taking your restraints back now."

"Sure. Just as soon as we're back inside," Reno said cheerily.

Suppressing a sigh of irritation, Rand guided Cloud back to the door that led back inside the facility. Once inside, Rand stepped aside to let Reno remove his cuffs from Cloud's wrists.

"Have a nice day," the Turk called after them but received no reply from Rand.

It was a quiet trip back to his cell. As Cloud stepped into it, he turned around to look at the Keeper. "Thank you," he found himself saying to the man.

"You're welcome, C4," Rand said in return with a nod and a subtle smile. "Try not to worry too much about what will happen tomorrow," the Keeper advised.

"I won't," Cloud said fast.

"Good. Because you'd be better off getting a restful sleep tonight than lying awake staring at the clock."

"Noted," Cloud said as he stepped backward and sat himself down on the bed in his cell.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you," Rand spoke lightly while glancing up at the one camera in the cell. He departed then, leaving Cloud alone once more.

Rand had known just as well as Cloud did that he was nervous about what would happen the next day. Rand's joking tone about watching him while he slept didn't make it any easier for him to accomplish rest. He lay most of the night facing away from the camera with his eyes shut. And he did worry. He was scared. Being cured of his mako sickness had been such a blessing. He didn't want to go back to that pain. But that was the plight of the specimen. Pain was never a maybe, always soon.


	20. Chapter 20

_~Twenty~_

He'd been there before. Over his head in anguish so deep he couldn't even see the light coming through from the surface. His mind consumed with a single thought and the small handful of two word phrases that could describe it. _It hurts_. _Oh God_. _Please stop_. _Help me_...

He wanted help. He _needed_ help but he wasn't going to get the help he longed for. It wasn't the first time he'd been at death's door. Hell, he'd been over the threshold and been asked to stay awhile. That's where he wanted to go now. Only he couldn't seem to make it there. His will was strong. Stronger than his own mind. That thing that had kept him alive through so much, that had compelled him to fight over and over again, it was like some adversary now. It found him begging for it to let him go. To finally let his body give up on him for good this time, so that he would never have to feel such agony again. Never have to hear his own screams. Never have to feel fear, or loss. Never have to question or worry. That was the help he wanted. However, when Cloud found himself opening his eyes after a week-long induced coma, he knew his fighting will had won another round.

A week. That's how long it had been since the attempt had been made to give him the new strain of Seraph and all the mako that was needed for it to apparently thrive.

He supposed he was less sensitive to mako than the average person, given how much exposure he'd survived in the past. He'd been exposed even before the lab, he learned days ago. He'd listened to Hojo rambling about it to his assistants. His hometown of Nibelheim had had a mako reactor there. The townspeople hadn't had any idea they had consumed miniscule amounts of mako that had gotten into the groundwater and then into the wells. Those with weakened immune systems got sick easier, but nothing seemed odd about that. Perfectly healthy individuals were able to metabolize the tiny bit of mako without any real noticeable effects. It wasn't even enough to encourage any enhancements like what it was used for in the SOLDIER program. Still, it must have created some sort of buffer in his body. A slightly higher tolerance but not high enough to stave off poisoning.

Too much too fast, that was Hojo's error that he'd made again and again. He had proven his insanity in spades by expecting different outcomes to his same ridiculous methods. He relied on the use of Jenova cells, and organ dialysis to somehow keep the overdose of green from killing his specimen. And so, Cloud found himself in the position he'd been in when he'd last been imprisoned in Hojo's hands. His veins full of mako-tainted blood and the drug that contained the mysterious Seraph strain that the professor hoped would unite with the Jenova cells this time around.

Jenova wasn't having it. He knew because he could hear her. She was that voice in his head that wasn't his own. One he'd thought, before he knew the truth, must mean he was crazy. Even when he hadn't heard her, she'd been with him. She only seemed to speak when he was in distress—or when she was. Maybe his distress and hers were the same thing now. Her life was dependent on his and she seemed to have some power over his survival. It made sense. She needed him, or at least his body as a vessel. So if not _his_ will keeping him alive through things he should not live through, it was _hers_.

Whatever Seraph was, she wasn't fond or welcoming of it. Cloud could feel her attack on the invader and it weakened not only Seraph, but him and her as well, which left him at the mercy of the poison running through him. Nothing could help him then. That hellfire under his skin sent him spiraling towards delirium in mere hours. Outside of the agony clouding his brain, he could only think of one thing and he knew it was crazy. Desperately, he wished for a blade within reach. Something with which he could plunge into his body to release what felt like a demon tearing him up inside. The pain and the menacing feeling of something burrowing deep into his tissue had him breaking from his restraints in the lab and clawing into his own flesh while the assistants and Hojo's clones tried to stop him. He could feel his fingernails breaking through his own skin but he barely felt the wetness of the blood that seeped out. It was madness, but somehow it felt better to let out his infected blood. It seemed like the burning sensation lessened but it must've been in his head.

His screams had turned to roars while he fought back at full-force against the clones that tried to get him under control. He was like a wild animal that fights when injured. Nothing in his vision was clear. He couldn't tell one person from the next as they crowded around him on the lab floor where he'd fallen to after breaking free of the exam table. What were they saying to him? Were they saying anything at all? Hojo must have been giving orders. Where would Rand be? Was he there at all? Was Reno?

Despite his furious movements and forceful exertion against the ones who were trying to get control of him, he found himself being immobilized. They held him down tightly against the floor on his back, so hard he could feel the hardness of it on his spine and his shoulder blades and it almost hurt. There was pressure on his stomach and his legs. His arms were being held in crushing grips and he found them being crossed over his chest tightly with his hands near the sides of his face. The fire was building. Hotter and hotter under the surface of his skin. It felt as though he were burning alive from the inside out. Once more he screamed out in desperation. When his lungs were emptied of air, he turned his head, lifted and pulled his right hand closer to his face and took hold of his own wrist in his mouth. With as much force as he could manage he sank his teeth into his arm, locking his jaw onto it and refusing to let go as several pairs of hands tried everything to stop him. Blood was filling his mouth as he felt someone striking his gut to get him to unclamp his jaw.

He wouldn't let go, even as the ones who were holding him down suddenly did. He was almost entirely checked out of his own brain so he had no thoughts on why they moved back. He had no thoughts on anything except escaping to death. Not even that thought remained when he was suddenly inflicted with a paralyzing sensation that found every muscle in his body seizing up tighter than he already felt they were. There was pain. A different pain. It didn't erase what he already felt but it masked it for a few seconds. Everything in him seemed to stop, even his breathing. There was a moment when the feeling dissipated, when he shut his eyes and took a short inhale through his nose. Then it happened again. A feeling like a wave of razor sharp spikes going through him. His body stiffened again and this time his mouth fell open as he found himself calling out involuntarily. It felt like time had stopped and he was trapped in some contorted form, his body twisted and his mind melting.

His head and arms fell back against the floor below him when that strange foreign torture ended once more. He heard only ringing in his ears and his body felt like it was made of only liquid. His senses were dulled and he felt a little numbed all over. He was coughing, choking on air trapped in his lungs and blood in his esophagus that he swallowed down with difficulty. The pain of his mako agony was returning slowly, building up again inside him, but he had a few moments to look into the haziness around him. To listen to what he could finally hear when the ringing lessened in his ears.

"Keep contact on him!" Hojo's command floated through the air and Cloud rolled his head slightly to look down at the right side of his torso where the end of a long metal object was pressing into it. He followed the path of what looked like a rod up to its holder and saw Reno. He knew then he'd been electrocuted. Reno had electrocuted him. "Double that dose!" Hojo's voice rang out again.

"It'll knock him out," someone else said.

"That's why I said to double it," the professor snapped back.

A moment later something sharp pierced the skin of his upper right arm. He didn't look away from Reno. Just stared at his slightly blurred expression, unable to decipher what it meant.

That had been before the coma. When he woke and found himself heavily restrained, there was something familiar about it. Something familiar about the feeling he had. He had a sense of déjà vu. He imagined it was the result of many instances of waking up in a medical-type room from some kind of trauma. But that wasn't quite it.

"He's waking," a voice from one of Hojo's assistants said from nearby.

"Check for pupillary response," said another voice. He recognized it but couldn't put a face to it as he blinked up at the white ceiling above. Someone came into his view but was blocked out almost immediately by a light that shone brightly into his eyes while a hand forced his right eye open followed by his left.

"Reactive," the assistant replied.

The light disappeared from Cloud's view and left him seeing spots that further obstructed his view of the person he thought he knew. It wasn't Rand and it wasn't Reno, Hojo or the doctor. Who else did he know in that place who wasn't an assistant?

"Can you hear me, C4?" the figure standing over him—a man—asked and he nodded slightly. "Your life has been saved again thanks to me. I can see the professor still hasn't learned from his past mistakes. He may be willing to listen to me this time 'round."

It hit Cloud then suddenly, just a moment before the spots in his eyes had dulled enough for him to see who was looking down at him. Galen. He knew what he wanted to say to the man but couldn't if he tried. Something was in his mouth, keeping the teeth on his upper and lower jaw from meeting and keeping his tongue pressed down. He couldn't bite down and whatever it was it was strapped around his head to keep him from spitting it out.

"You're wondering how I'm here," Galen said, somewhat echoing his thoughts. "It's thanks to you I suppose. You must have mentioned that I cured you of your mako sickness at our rebel hideout. He came looking for me to fix the mess he made out of you again. I'll bet that was one pride shattering pill to swallow down," he chuckled to himself. "Don't you worry, C4. Now that I'm here, you'll be just fine. I'll get you safely mako-enhanced and ready for anything Hojo has in store for you."

 _Safely mako-enhanced_ , Cloud repeated the words in his head. _Great_.

Yes, help had come. And it wasn't the help he'd wanted.


	21. Chapter 21

_Hey readers!_

 _Thanks so much for your patience in waiting for this update and special thanks to all who commented on the last chapter. I really appreciate it. Also thank you to those of you who sent messages lately encouraging me to keep writing. That's very sweet of you guys to think of me! Always thinking of you guys too, sorry to keep you waiting so long for chapters but I'm so happy you come back here to read!_

 _Take care :)_

 _-Jaydee_

~Twenty-One~

That same day that Cloud had woken from his coma in the lab, he was returned to his cell, weak and still feeling the lingering sickness from the mako Hojo had administered to him. He knew a little more now about how Galen was able to cure mako poisoning, but only a little. The process involved removing a great amount of his own blood from his body, leaving only the minimum necessary to keep him alive. After that, he was given a transfusion of his own clean blood that Hojo had in storage.

He'd been brought back to his cell with several bandages taped to his body. Although he had no trouble remembering that they had been self-inflicted wounds, it felt somehow like someone else had injured him. Once he was alone, he pulled the bandages off in a few spots, wanting to see just how bad the injuries were. They seemed minor for the most part. The one on his right wrist where he'd bit into it was the worst. The punctures his teeth had made were deep and when he flexed his wrist or made a fist he could feel pain shooting to his fingertips.

Galen had told him almost ominously that he would get him "safely mako-enhanced." Try as he might to guess at how the man would accomplish that, he couldn't come up with anything. Hojo had tried so many ways in the past to get as much mako into him and Zack as he could and it only seemed to make them sick. Zack seemed to take to it better than him. He had always been so much stronger. Even now, Zack was capable of more than he knew. Rand's Seraph revelation, although nearly unbelievable, was undeniably interesting. To have that kind of power, to be able to move matter, to move the very walls that confined him…

Apparently, that was the power that Zack had in his hands, and which potentially put him in danger if what Rand had said was any indication. Despite the fact he knew he was being watched and that Rand had already been curious about his last incidence of meeting Zack in what was like some other separate consciousness, he couldn't just ignore what he'd learned without making Zack aware of it.

He waited until the lights were out in his cell that night and pretended to be asleep, while he was actually trying to figure out how to make contact with Zack. He didn't really know how it worked. He'd only managed to do it once so far and he had no idea how he'd done it. He'd been desperate to escape Sephiroth at the time and there was only one living person he could think of when he was terrified. He wasn't currently terrified. All he felt was the standard level of fear that was a constant in his circumstances. He needed to see Zack all the same, so he did what he could to focus on him and try to will him into a connection.

With his eyes shut tightly, he pictured him, tried to talk to him. Tried to tell him somehow that he needed to see and talk to him. He tried so hard he felt his head beginning to pound. He even held his breath.

Nothing happened. He turned onto his back, sighing dejectedly before rolling to his left side, prepared to try and actually sleep, thinking maybe he'd try again the next night.

"Buddy."

That word startled him, making him open his eyes fast.

"Zack," he breathed out with relief as he found his friend looking back at him as he lay on his right side next to him.

"I'm so happy to see you," Zack told him. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Cloud nodded. "I'm okay."

Zack saw through his words. "You're weak. What's Hojo been doing to you?" he inquired with deep concern.

"Nothing," Cloud replied. "Just mako. A lot of it."

"You're sick again," Zack spoke worriedly.

"I was," Cloud confirmed. "Hojo brought Galen back here to cure me again. Now Galen's helping him figure out some other safer way to give me mako without killing me."

Zack seemed shocked before his expression turned to one of subtle anger. He shook his head and turned over onto his back, staring upwards. "Right. _Safer_. So he's working with that psychopath again. I knew it. Never should have let that bastard go. But…guess it's a good thing if he saved you some pain."

"Wait," Cloud said. "What are you talking about?"

Zack faced him again, turning and propping himself up on his elbow. "Johnny tracked him down after Hojo got hold of you again. I thought I could get some info out of him but he was nearly useless. I knew he'd go back to Hojo if he had the chance."

"All his plans he had for taking down Shinra and the president…he never really cared about any of it. He was throwing a tantrum," Cloud said, mostly to himself as he thought back on his time in the school with Galen and the rest of his group. He shook his thoughts away as he remembered he had a reason for contacting Zack.

"There's something I need to tell you about," he said.

"Okay," Zack replied, curious to know what it would be.

"I know what Hojo wants from me. At least, his immediate goal. I suppose it was what he had planned for both of us before."

"What? To use us as weapons?" Zack asked and Cloud nodded. It wasn't a surprising revelation but Cloud wasn't finished.

"Yeah, but like super-human weapons. He gave us some drug before. Some part-biological thing he made that is supposed to give us certain abilities. It needs a lot of mako to work," Cloud explained.

With a raised brow Zack asked, "Hojo told you this?"

"No," Cloud denied. "Someone else"

Zack suspected he knew who. "Someone named Rand?" he questioned, drawing a look of surprise from Cloud.

"How do you know about him?"

"Reno," Zack said. "What's the guy's deal?" he asked.

"He helps Hojo and he watches me," Cloud told him.

"Like…literally?" Zack said back.

"Literally," Cloud confirmed. "He is almost always watching me. He watches me all the time. Either he's watching me right now or he'll see the surveillance footage later."

The information was unnerving. "How big of a problem is this guy?" Zack asked him.

"I don't know. Maybe a big one. Hojo trusts him enough to let him make decisions on what should happen to me and what should be done to get whatever results Hojo is looking for in me. I hardly see Hojo. I see Rand every day."

Zack hummed in acknowledgement. "Reno said he's some kind of behavioural therapist or something," he said and Cloud shrugged.

"I guess. He calls himself my _Keeper_ ," he told Zack a little uncomfortably.

"What?" Zack fired back fast. "Like a zookeeper?" he inquired and Cloud rolled his eyes. "Weirdo," Zack concluded. "He any good at his job?" he asked with a small smile, his poor attempt at joking.

"Good enough," Cloud answered without really looking at him.

"You're worrying me, buddy," Zack told him seriously.

"Sorry," Cloud said back. "Is there any way you won't worry?" he asked.

"No," Zack said. "No way in hell. You always worry about the ones you love, even when you know they're safe."

It brought a small sad smile to Cloud. "I love you too, Zack," he said. It made Zack's heart hurt a little. His friend had never easily been able to express his feelings with words. Maybe he'd heard him say that once. Maybe twice, though he really couldn't recall. As nice as it was to hear, there was something about it that scared him.

He cleared his throat. Cleared his emotions. "So, um, how do you know you can trust what the zookeeper tells you?" he asked.

"I don't, but I believe him because of what I saw in Galen's files that he took from Hojo. They show proof that the drug does something unbelievable," Cloud reasoned.

It was on the video footage in Galen's boxes? That certainly had Zack curious. He had been going over all the files slowly but hadn't made it through all the videos yet. "What does this thing do?" he asked next.

"Makes it possible to do things like…like destroying something by thinking about it," Cloud struggled to explain.

"We can do that?"

Cloud shook his head. "Not me. Not yet. But you…"

Zack let out a dry laugh in response. To say he was skeptical was an understatement. "Spike, come on."

"Zack, I saw it," Cloud argued. "In Galen's files. There were video files—"

"I have all the stuff Galen showed you," Zack cut him off. "All the stuff from the lab."

There was a few seconds of silence as Cloud processed Zack's words. "So then, you've seen the footage from that night of the escape from the mansion?"

"No, not yet. Truth is, I'm having a hard time getting through all of it. Just trying to take things slowly. Seems to make it easier." Zack confessed. "You said you saw it all?" he said and Cloud nodded. "Some of it I wish you hadn't," he added with difficulty before swallowing hard.

"Vallow," Cloud said the man's name quietly.

"Yeah," Zack said without looking at him. It was clear that he was trying to supress his emotions but his eyes still glistened a little with building tears.

"Did I know what he was doing at the time?" Cloud asked him.

Zack nodded. "Yeah he didn't make any secret about what he wanted from you," he said.

"No," Cloud replied fast and Zack looked at him again. "Did I know what he was doing to you, Zack?"

For a second Zack just stared back at him. His face seemed to say that the thought was ridiculous. His words backed that up. "N-no, Spike."

"But I did find out?" Cloud pushed and Zack nodded once more. "That's why I killed him."

"That prick deserved it, Spike," Zack told him in a scolding tone. "I didn't want you feeling guilty then and you shouldn't now."

"I guess, I don't," Cloud admitted. "But, you shouldn't have done what you did to protect me," he pointed out.

"Well I did so that's how it is," Cloud stated firmly. Zack was quiet next to him. Maybe he was thinking, or maybe just waiting for something. Cloud was hesitant to ask what came to his mind next but he did anyway, sort of. "Did he…" It was harder than he thought. Now he understood how difficult it had been for Zack to ask him that same question.

"What?" Zack replied when he didn't finish.

"Well how far did things go?" There, he asked. And he was immediately afraid of the answer.

"Did I let him take a trip downtown?" Zack spoke dryly. Another attempt to cut the tension of the situation. "No," Zack finally said. What he said next squashed any relief that one word brought with it. "Not for lack of trying on his part. He kept pushing for it. He kept threatening to go after you if I didn't give in. I never told you that. I probably would have given in—I know I would have." He smiled a little. "You saved me from that," he spoke gratefully. His expression was quick to turn. "Kills me to know I couldn't do the same for you."

Cloud found his eyes suddenly blurring. He hadn't felt tears coming on. He wiped at his eyes before they made a move to his cheeks. "You suffered for me, Zack. What you did to keep him away from me…God, it must torture you to think about."

Zack shook his head at that. "I don't, Spike. I don't think about it at all. I just…I think about you. That's it. I think of Aerith but not as much as I should. I feel like shit for that."

Cloud smiled a little. "She needs you, Zack. More than I do. I'll be okay."

"Spike, no, you can't give up—" Zack was quick to say, reaching out to grasp the back of Cloud's neck and squeezing gently with reassurance.

"I'm not," Cloud replied with his eyes closed as he struggled to explain. "I just…" The words wouldn't come.

"Cloud, I've got a plan," Zack told him. "I'm getting you out of that place."

He looked at his friend again. "How?"

Zack smiled. "Well if what you say is true I can just bust down a wall and let you out," he joked.

"No you can't."

"Why not? I can shatter bullet and blast-proof glass just by thinking about it," he pointed out. "Actually, not even thinking about it. Pretty sure I wasn't thinking specifically about that. Pretty sure I was just stressed out."

"You can't because it's dangerous, for you," Cloud told him. Zack could tell he was serious.

"Why?"

"Because you could get hurt or sick. It doesn't work right without Jenova."

"I got the Jenova cells too," Zack said.

"Yeah but they didn't bond to you or something," Cloud argued. "They don't do anything."

"And you know all of this how? And, why would the Jenova cells make a difference?"

"Rand told me and they just...I don't know." Cloud shook his head to himself. "I sound crazy," he said softly.

"A little, yeah," Zack laughed. "Don't worry, okay? I promise I won't try to explode something with my mind."

"Zack," Cloud said, looking at him straight. "What _is_ your plan? You promised it wasn't going to put you or any of the others in danger." As Zack opened his mouth to reply he added one more thing. "And don't just tell me you have it under control."

"Well first, it's under control," Zack said happily, earning a frown. "But uh, the plan…the plan is…"

"You don't have one."

"Alright, it's an idea more than a plan," Zack admitted. "I'm looking in to getting the blueprints to the compound and access to the surveillance system."

"So you can break in? Zack, I don't want you—"

"Spike, relax," Zack interrupted. "I'm not going to break in. Reno and you have done a pretty good job convincing me that's not going to work so I'm going to break _you_ out." Cloud seemed at a loss for words. His lack of reaction surprised Zack a little.

"Is that…okay?" Zack asked him. "You don't like staying there do you?"

"No, sorry. I just…you want me to break myself out?" Cloud questioned.

"No, I'm breaking you out, I'm just not coming in there myself. I'll get everything shut down and I'll have a route for you to get out of there," Zack explained.

"What about Hojo? Rand? Galen? Everyone else?"

"What about them, Spike?" Zack fired back. "You can take them down if they stand in your way. You're a badass," he assured him with a smile. Cloud didn't seem comforted. "Cloud," he said, trying to meet his friend's eyes which stayed firmly planted on something else. "Even if it looks like it, it can't be _impossible_ for me to get in to that place. There's a way somehow. We just don't know what it is. I would come in there in a second. It's not even a question for me. It's just that you—"

"No, I know. I don't want you near this place," Cloud responded fast. "Sounds like a good plan," he said with a weak smile. "I should go now Zack, just in case…"

"The zookeeper?" Zack said and Cloud nodded. "Hang in there, okay?"

"You got it," Cloud replied softly. Zack hugged him then. It was only a moment before he felt him disappear from next to him, leaving him alone in the darkness of his cell.

000

It was a long few days for Cloud in his cell while he was recovering from his latest mako ordeal. Rand came to visit him as usual and he was given access to the fitness room but he tried to use it, if only to get out of his cell. He still felt too weak to really push himself. Rand had told him Galen and Hojo were busy readying his new treatment and he felt increasingly fearful of what it would be the longer he had to wait. He knew the time had come when Galen finally entered his cell one morning. A clone stood behind him.

"What do you want?" Cloud asked him, though he knew why he was there.

"I'm here to give you your mako treatment," Galen said. Cloud looked at him and past him. There was no equipment with him but he was holding a paper cup. The man reached into the one pocket of his lab coat and retrieved something that he reached out for Cloud to take. It was a pill.

"What's this?" Cloud asked.

"The treatment," Galen answered simply. "Down the hatch," he instructed as he held out the cup in his hand to Cloud. He didn't take it right away.

"There's mako in this?" he asked.

Galen nodded. "A lot actually. An elephant's dose. Don't worry, though, it's perfectly safe."

"It's not going to make me sick?" Cloud replied.

"Oh, you'll get sick. Like throw up twice a day for a week sick but you won't be poisoned." He held the cup out again to Cloud who just stared at it. "You want to know how it works?" Galen asked him and he said nothing. The man went on to explain anyway. "It's complex, but let's just say the mako is bonded to protein which is metabolized by your body and used more effectively as energy. The process is helped by exposure to sun so lucky for you, you're going to get some outside time."

"How many of these do I have to take," was Cloud's next question.

"Seven doses should do it."

Cloud looked from the pill to Galen. "And then what?"

"If all goes well, and it will, you will be ready for the new and improved Seraph, manufactured by yours truly," Galen spoke proudly.

"You came up with this awfully fast," Cloud said sharply.

"I came up with it two years ago. Do you think I could get Hojo to use it on you and Z1? Stubborn. But, he's finally coming to his senses."

Cloud couldn't help but shake his head. "You think he cares about you?" he said. "He's only using you and then he'll dump you, just like you dumped Genesis and left him to die. You screwed both of us. All that shit you spouted about wanting to take the company and the president down. You were just sulking because Hojo got mad at you."

Galen smirked back at him. "Genesis made his choice back at the school. He chose to stay, hoping you'd come back like the little sheep you are. And you were stupid enough to return. Something in you wants to be where you are right now. You had freedom again and you were incapable of accepting it. You chose to take the path back to Shinra, or at least something connected to it. You're not meant to live a normal life like all those average innocent, good people out there. You're a killer with a quite a body count. You don't belong in society and you know that." Galen held the cup out to him once more, placing it in front of his face. "I have no problem forcing that pill down your throat," he warned and Cloud took the cup from him. He kept his eyes on Galen as he put the pill in his mouth and drank it down with the little bit of water in the cup. "Bah bah little sheep," Galen taunted him as he reached his hand out to take the cup back.

"Zack should have killed you when he had the chance," Cloud told him as he put the paper back in his palm. The man just smirked at him again before leaving.

It took hours for Cloud to feel anything from the pill Galen had given him. It wasn't until early afternoon that he started to feel dizzy and sick to his stomach. He managed to keep down what he'd eaten earlier but decided not to eat what was brought to his cell later for his dinner. There was no significant pain and he didn't feel paralyzed with weakness. It was all-around bearable. He had to wonder though if it would actually work as well as Galen thought it would. If so, the man was going to be a pretty important asset to Shinra. At least until someone else could copy his work. Something like that would be useful in SOLDIER.

That day was unlike most of the others before it for one reason in particular, and it wasn't the miraculous mako pill. It was the fact that he didn't see Rand once. He didn't see anyone else either. The curtain stayed closed over the glass wall in his cell and no one other than Galen had come to see him. The only other person who got close to him was whoever had brought his meal trays and slid them under the door. It made for a long and lonely day.

The following morning he woke around 5 am to find Rand in his cell, sitting in a chair across from his bed. Cloud glanced up at the clock in the wall before fixing his eyes on the man. He was sitting back with his one ankle resting on his other knee. He was holding something in his right hand. It looked like a ball which he was rolling slowly in his palm with his fingers. At seeing Cloud was finally awake, he gave him something of a forced smile.

"You're here early," Cloud said to him after a few moments of the man staring at him in silence. Maybe the Keeper was there to bring him outside. Galen had said he'd be getting some time outside. He was looking forward to that.

"There is something I need to talk to you about," Rand told him in a tone that suggested something wasn't right.

"Okay," Cloud responded uneasily as he sat himself up slowly.

"You've been communicating with Z1 and I want to know how," he declared.

Cloud's stomach sank immediately. How could he know that? "What?" he asked. He found his eyes drawn again to that ball in the man's hand which he gripped suddenly tighter, squeezing it.

"Trust me C4, there is no way you can fake excuse yourself out of this," Rand said sharply.

Cloud felt immediately defensive. He hid his fear and apprehension with annoyance. "I haven't spoken to _Zack_ in months," he claimed, being sure to emphasize his friend's name. "Since the last time I saw him in person," he added. He could tell his words weren't appreciated by Rand who glared back at him hard.

"His name is Z1," he corrected. "Do you need a reminder of yours?" There was a definite threat behind those words. It had Cloud averting his gaze to the floor between them. "Do you know how I know you are communicating with Z1?" Rand asked him but he didn't look up or respond. "I observed your interaction with Galen yesterday. I noted that you told Galen that Z1 should have killed him when he had the chance. I asked Galen when this event was and turns out it was after you had been reclaimed by Shinra. Galen says he did not tell you of this so how is it you came to know this?"

Cloud remained silent though his mind was racing. He'd messed up. He couldn't think of any logical reason why he would know the information Rand spoke of.

"I have reason to believe you have communicated with Z1 at least twice while in this facility," Rand went on. "What I want to know is how and what it is you have told him."

There was a long pause as the man was waiting for him to explain himself. Cloud could think of nothing but the truth and he knew he couldn't give that. He could only refuse.

"No," he said at last.

"What?" Rand questioned fast, setting both his feet on the floor and leaning forward in his chair.

Cloud forced himself to look at the man straight. "No. I'm not talking to you about this," he stated.

"You are going to, C4, trust me," Rand warned him.

"No," Cloud repeated, shaking his head slowly.

"You can tell me, or you can tell the professor," was Rand's threat at that.

"I won't tell him either," Cloud said back fast.

Rand exhaled heavily and sat back in the chair. "We've made a lot of progress, C4. I feel that we've built a relationship that I've come to value. We've been honest with each other. Are you now going to make me resort to something I'd rather not do?" he questioned. Cloud just stared back at him challengingly. "Very well," Rand uttered almost sadly.

Cloud watched him rise from his chair and a moment later he had left the cell, leaving him sitting with a feeling of heavy anticipation. He didn't know what was coming. Was he going to tell Hojo what he knew?

He didn't have to wait long for Rand to return. Maybe ten minutes. When he came back he wasn't alone. He brought two clones with him, which made him immediately fearful they were going to drag him to the metal room for a beating. They could beat him to death, he wasn't going to tell Rand what he wanted to know. Telling him anything about his secret communications with Zack put his friend in danger. He imagined that if Hojo knew they could talk to each other psychically that he would want to reclaim Zack as well. For now, at least, it seemed Hojo had let Zack go. Whether he planned to hunt down Zack again later, he didn't know, but for the time being he was safe and free.

His suspicions Rand had set him up for a beating seemed confirmed when the clones forced him into the metal room outside his cell, but they didn't drop him there like he expected. Instead, they were pushing and pulling him into the familiar hall outside the metal room. The one that led to the other places he'd been in the compound. His eyes fixed on the door to the room of boxes in the floor. The boxes scared him more than the prospect of having fists and feet pummeling him. He suddenly found himself struggling to breathe just thinking of it. But just maybe he'd be able to speak to Vincent?

He couldn't help but feel a little relieved when he was pushed past the door that led to that room but it became clear then that his destination was likely the elevator. That was confirmed when Rand unlocked the door in the hall that led to it. One thing he knew is that he wasn't about to be rewarded with a trip outside and the only other direction was down. He felt sick immediately and panic was setting into him but he didn't want to let it show. He didn't want to give Rand the impression what his threat could work and get him the information he wanted. He didn't fight to stop the clones from moving him into the elevator but against his will his body began trembling a little as the elevator was heading downward.

Rand looked at him then, a blank expression on his face. "You know where we're heading," the man said.

Cloud shook his head slowly. "Please don't do this to me," he said back softly.

"You know how to get out of this," Rand told him. "I don't have time to try less extreme measures, hoping you'll come to your senses. I need to know what you've been telling Z1. Do you know that the General's success rate in obtaining information through interrogation while he was active in SOLDIER is one hundred percent? Every single person he questioned eventually told him what he wanted to know. I'm sure if I give him an information objective he'll be able to get an answer out of you as well."

Cloud thought back on when he was trapped with Sephiroth. The man already knew the answer Rand was looking for, or at least could give him some information. He must have known how the connection between Cloud and Zack worked because he'd been able to interrupt it. Now he had the problem of convincing Sephiroth not to say anything.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened, revealing that Rand had, in fact, taken him down to where Sephiroth was kept. A part of him actually felt betrayed by Rand and he wasn't sure why. The man wasn't his friend. The Keeper had made that clear more than once. He didn't care about him.

"Last chance, C4," Rand said to him firmly.

Hardening his own expression, Cloud looked from him to the space outside the elevator. Without waiting for the clones to be ordered to force him toward his punishment, he walked himself forward instead, exiting the elevator. Once outside of it, he turned around to face Rand again. He tried not to let his fear show. He was terrified, but he couldn't let Rand know that.

"You're calling my bluff?" Rand asked him but Cloud said nothing. "I'm not bluffing, C4."

Cloud's fear gave way momentarily to something else. His determination. This wasn't about him. It was about Zack and protecting his best friend. Zack did everything to protect him over and over again. He'd made his life about protecting him, even at the expense of himself. He'd faced shame and degradation and abuse for him. He'd probably do it again. Nothing that Rand or Hojo or Sephiroth could do to him was going to make him speak a word that could focus any further interest or attention on Zack, even if it all meant nothing in the end anyway.

"Did you hear me, C4?" Rand asked him with his hand holding the elevator door from closing.

"Yeah," Cloud said with a short nod before turning his back on the elevator as he motioned to make his way toward the doors to the anteroom outside Sephiroth's chambers. He paused though, looking back briefly. He made sure to look directly into Rand's eyes as he spoke one last thing in a biting tone. "And my name is Cloud."


	22. Chapter 22

_Hey everyone!  
_

 _Thanks for reading and reviewing the last chapter. I'm issuing a **trigger warning** for this chapter...you probably know what that means. _

~Twenty-Two~

Standing in the antechamber with Sephiroth's grand doors ahead of him, Cloud turned first to the doors that led to Genesis's rooms. He assumed they led to the man's rooms. He hadn't seen them the last time he was down there. He knocked on the door gently before putting his ear to the door to listen. When he didn't hear anything he tried turning the one door knob and found that it was locked. They both were. It was then that one of Sephiroth's doors opened and the ex-general was staring him down from the doorway. He was bare-chested, clothed only from the waist down in a pair of black hospital-type pants similar to his own. There was a long and thick scar on his torso and Cloud had to wonder if he'd been the cause of it. The sword wound he'd inflicted on him in the reactor all those years ago. He hadn't noticed it the last time he was down in that place.

"He's not in there," the man told him with a smirk. "You won't be able to hide behind him."

Cloud let his hands fall from the door knobs. "What happened to him?" he asked with his feet still planted where he was.

Sephiroth let go of his own door to lean against the frame with his arms crossed over his broad chest. "Taken upward days ago," was his basic and unsatisfying answer. "You look different," he commented then, leaving his doorway and approaching Cloud slowly. Cloud stepped back from Genesis's door. He forced himself to face the looming threat that came toward him. "You've gotten stronger," Sephiroth said as he made a slow circle around him, looking him up and down. From behind Cloud he leaned in suddenly and took in a sharp inhale that had Cloud taking a step away from him fast and pivoting to face him once more. He was surprised when the man's hand took hold of his face, gripping his jaw and pushing him backward, where his back pressed against one of Genesis's doors.

"You smell of mako. And fear," Sephiroth told him in a mocking tone. "You _should_ be afraid. It doesn't matter how strong you've gotten or how hard you fight back, you _will_ submit. The only thing in question is how much you will bleed while doing it," he promised.

Ignoring his threat, Cloud shook his head against the man's grip. "I'm not going to fight you," he told the ex-general. It had the man looking back at him curiously.

"And why is that, puppet?" he asked.

"Because I need something from you," Cloud replied.

Sephiroth stared down at him a moment, looking hard into his eyes, as if trying to come to a decision. He let go of Cloud's jaw then and took a step back from him. "Then the feeling's mutual," he concluded with a sly-seeming grin. Cloud watched him walk slowly back to his open door where he turned back and looked at him expectantly. Cloud felt his heart pounding hard in his chest. It was hard to make himself move but he did, forcing his legs forward to enter Sephiroth's chamber. The door was shut behind him as he looked around the man's living area briefly. He looked down at the chaise nearby and felt himself shudder internally as he remembered what had happened on it.

"At the promise of reward—though I don't yet know what it is—I was told I have an hour to get an explanation from you on how you've been talking to our plucky and annoying brother, Zackary," Sephiroth explained to him. "Including _what_ you've told him. You've been very bad, giving away Mother's secrets," he went on as he began heading toward a small kitchenette in the corner of the room. He glanced back to see Cloud's confused expression "What? You think you and Fair did that all on your own? You speak to each other because she lets you," the man told him before moving around a short counter into the kitchenette and retrieving a glass from one of the cupboards. He reached for one of a collection of liquor bottles on the back counter of the kitchen.

Cloud shook his head to himself. It didn't make sense. "But…no, Zack didn't take to Jenova's cells," he argued. "They didn't do anything. Rand said—"

"That man knows nothing of us," Sephiroth cut him off sharply.

Again Cloud refused to give in so easily. "Zack would have told me if he'd seen and heard the things I have…her voice…" He watched Sephiroth pour an amber liquid into a glass.

"She doesn't wish to talk to him," the man replied. "He was defiant and refused her embrace so he is not welcome in our family. He is undeserving of her love or her help."

So Zack had both Jenova and Seraph. Turns out his friend was still the bigger success from the lab, and Hojo had no idea.

"Would you like a drink?" Sephiroth asked him. "If I had to guess I'd say you prefer clear liquor."

Cloud shook his head at his offer. "It's not even 6 a.m." he said.

"Time is irrelevant here, as are societal norms," the man said back. He had a point.

"Why do you get all of this?" Cloud inquired of his lavish quarters. Upstairs he was stuck in a cell the size of a shoebox in comparison with nothing to distract him from his situation at all.

"Because Father likes me best," was his simple reply.

"How did you even survive the reactor?" Cloud went on, suddenly bursting with questions and wanting to keep the conversation going as long as possible to keep things from turning in the direction he was terrified of. "And where were you for all that time Zack and I were locked in the mansion in Nibelheim?"

The man released an annoyed sigh as he left the kitchenette with his drink in hand. "You're asking a lot of questions that frankly I find uninteresting." He stopped in front of Cloud and brandished him a dark smile. "I'd prefer your mouth be doing something else." Cloud felt his body break out in a sweat over the remark. He tried to keep his nervousness from showing. "So, you _need_ something from me," the man said, turning in that direction he'd just been avoiding. "I'm sure I can guess what it is," he stated but didn't include what it was.

"You can't tell anyone that I've been talking to Zack," Cloud spoke as firmly as he could manage.

"Oh, is that an order, Private Strife?" the man mocked him, prompting a subtle eye roll from Cloud.

"Look, Zack is one of the only people who means anything to me. He protected me when we were locked up in the mansion in Nibelheim and now it's my turn. Hojo isn't interested in Zack right now and I don't want him to have a reason to be," Cloud explained.

"That's your problem, not mine," the man spoke coldly before turning from him and approaching an armchair nearby so that he could sit himself down.

"I don't understand," Cloud shot at him angrily. "Zack was your friend too. He cared about you and the way he used to talk it sounded like you cared about him too," he pointed out. "Why do you hate him? Because he tried to stop you in the reactor? I'm the one who put a sword through you, not him!"

"Knowing how much it would pain you to see Fair here in this prison is enough reason for me to hope for it," the former general spoke harshly.

The situation seemed hopeless. Still, Cloud wasn't willing to give up. He approached the man, finding Sephiroth regarding him with a questioning gaze. He stood in front of him a moment before slowly lowering himself to his knees in front of him.

"I'm kneeling to you. And if you want me to beg you, I will," Cloud told him. It was a painful declaration. " _Please_ , don't tell anyone what you know," he pleaded.

The man took a sip from his glass while he stared down at him. "What do I get for my silence?" he asked finally but Cloud didn't know what to say to that. _Whatever you want_. That's what his brain was saying but he couldn't make himself say that. "There's only one thing you can offer me that I need right now and it's not a boring conversation," Sephiroth told him crudely.

"What?" Cloud got out barely over a whisper. He already knew. Sephiroth reaching down to his own pants and releasing the drawstring only confirmed it. He looked from the man's lap to his face with distain. Stand and run. That's what he wanted to do. He could try fighting, but that wasn't going to get him what he wanted. "You won't say anything?" he questioned Sephiroth.

"Satisfy me and I'll hold on to your little secret," the man agreed.

That's all he needed to hear. He didn't know if he completely believed the man but he knew that Sephiroth was probably going to take from him what he wanted regardless. At least this way he felt like he was controlling the situation. Somehow it felt less horrifying and violating. He just needed not to think about it. The things he was going to do and which would be done to him were just acts. Physical things that had nothing to do with his emotions or his soul. They wouldn't break him if he didn't let them. Both Zack and Johnny were proof of that.

His hands were shaking as he grasped onto what was contained beneath the material of Sephiroth's pants. He glanced up once at the man who set down the glass in his hand on the table next to the chair. Then he shut his eyes and lowered his head into the ex-general's lap.

Wild grass. Somehow that's what he thought of after the first few moments. He didn't want to experience any of his current situation so he let his mind wander and that's what he thought of. A vast field of wild grasses and flowers. Rays of sun shining down and a warm wind that sent the grass into waves just like water. Butterflies and bees and crickets. All the little creatures that reveled in what that beautiful landscape had to offer. He laid out there in the grass watching the clouds in the sky as they moved and changed shape. That's where he stayed until Sephiroth reached his climax. Fingers pulling hard on his hair and holding his head down dragged him back to reality. He struggled to breathe through his nose with his face pressed tightly to the man's body. His jaw was aching. He knew the man had finished but was delaying releasing him. He didn't try to sit himself back but he found himself groaning from the building pain in his jaw muscles. That's when Sephiroth jerked his head up by his hair suddenly. He took in a deep breath as the air of the room hit his face that was wet with sweat, tears, and saliva.

"You're much better at that than you are at talking," Sephiroth told him before finally letting go of his hair. The man pushed himself to a stand then, stepping over him and adjusting his pants back on his body. Cloud sat himself back on the floor and used his t-shirt to slowly wipe his face off. "I imagine you'll want this now," the man spoke down to him and he looked up to see him holding a glass down to him. He took it reluctantly and shifted himself over to rest his back against the nearby couch. The ex-general sat himself back down in the chair next to him. Cloud didn't look at him but felt the man watching him expectantly so he took a drink from the glass he'd been handed. The straight alcohol burned his stinging throat harshly and had him coughing for a few seconds. He found himself looking around the room and his eyes settling on one of the cameras he never noticed the last time he'd been down there. Sephiroth followed his gaze.

"Does it embarrass you?" he asked.

"What?" Cloud answered without looking at him.

"Someone watching?"

Cloud's eyes went back to his. "You like it?" he inquired with skepticism. He wondered how anyone could.

"I find the thought that it makes you uncomfortable arousing," he explained with amusement. "What arouses you?" he pried.

Cloud ignored the question. He looked at the glass in front of him. It was more than a double shot. He decided to just drink it all at once. Maybe it would help his nerves. He could count on one hand how many times he'd been drunk. He didn't particularly like the way it made him feel out of control, numb, and fuzzy. It was something that seemed appealing now. "I asked you a question, puppet," Sephiroth interrupted his thoughts.

"Not you," he fired at the man, not hiding the hatred evident in his voice. He was met with a curious gaze that wandered over him.

"Take off your shirt," Sephiroth ordered him and he stared back at him a moment, trying to decide if he was serious. "Do I need to repeat myself?" the man asked him. There was something like a warning in his voice. Cloud complied then, setting the emptied glass in his hand on the floor next to him and proceeding to remove his t-shirt. "Impressive," Sephiroth remarked. "You've been training." He had actually gained a fair amount of muscle since he'd last been in the man's presence. "I want you to massage me," the man told him. It wasn't really what he expected to be asked to do but he'd take it. He moved himself in front of Sephiroth once more and reached out toward his lap. It earned him a low chuckle that had him taking pause. "My shoulders," Sephiroth clarified. "You can have _that_ again soon."

Cloud tried to ignore the feeling of his cheeks reddening as he stood himself up and moved to stand behind the chair. He reached forward and placed his hands tentatively on the man's bare skin. He'd never given anyone a massage. He had no idea what he was doing as he kneaded at his flesh for a few minutes but part of him imagined taking hold of the man's head and in one swift motion breaking his neck. The man's hand suddenly taking hold of his right wrist in a crushing grip had him halting his movements.

"You're thinking bad things, Cloud," the man uttered up at him in a musical tone. "I dare you to try it," he challenged.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he lied, attempting to pull his arm back out of Sephiroth's vice-like grip. The man yanked hard on his wrist fast, pulling his upper body forward and down. With Cloud's face close to his own the man spoke to him in a severe tone.

"Think it again and I'll break both your hands," he warned before reaching his emptied glass up to him and releasing his wrist. Cloud took it after a second, knowing what the man expected, and he abandoned his place behind the chair to go over to where the liquor bottles were sitting. He didn't make it there. He realized Sephiroth was approaching him from behind fast. The man grabbed on to him before he could turn completely to face him. His body was turned back toward the kitchenette, and he dropped the glass in his hand a second before he was forced against the counter ahead of him.

Fast. It was all too fast for him to even dwell for a moment on what was to come. His forearms and palms were suddenly pressing against the cold countertop and Sephiroth was behind him, pushing his pants down over his hips, followed by his own. He made his penetration then without any hesitation or preparation. The pain of the sudden assault had Cloud crying out and nearly collapsing to his knees. Sephiroth was fast to reach forward and clutch his wrists as he lifted and shoved him against the counter, putting his hands within reach of the opposite edge of the countertop. The man urged him to take hold of it, which he did. He curled his fingers around the edge and held as tightly as he could while Sephiroth was hammering his body.

He cried as he lowered his head to the countertop as well. He pressed his forehead to it and let his tears salt the marble it was made of. There was no way he could imagine himself away from what was happening right then. The pain was too intense. He began chanting in his head. _It's just my body. It's just my body…_ He thought about what he did have control of. Zack's safety, his own sanity, even…Sephiroth. He wasn't fighting him at all. He'd chosen to give him what he wanted because it didn't mean anything. It hurt, but it didn't mean anything. Still, he sobbed through it all, because it did hurt. He knew the man wanted it to. He was taking him violently on purpose.

The man bit into his right shoulder hard as he climaxed, though Cloud hardly felt it. With his forehead still pressed to the countertop and his hands still gripping the edge of it, his body shook under Sephiroth's. Sickness had settled into his stomach, which had nothing in it other than liquor. The feeling seemed to take over, making him break out in a cold sweat. He'd waited for Sephiroth to release him but so far he was just standing there, panting with his body still pressed to his.

"I'm gonna throw up," he muttered to the man who simply chuckled in response, instantly angering him. "Get off of me," he ordered as he tried to move himself away from the counter. Still, he was held trapped against it. "Get off me!" he yelled. Sephiroth did move off of him then, releasing himself from his body and letting him sink to the floor where he started to heave. The man walked past him, around to somewhere in the kitchenette where he opened a cabinet door. A bowl was dropped to the floor in front of Cloud and he took hold of it a second before throwing up. It was expectedly liquid only. Again the man left him to go to the sink where he turned the water on. Cloud couldn't see what he was doing but he came back with a wet dish towel that he threw down at Cloud. It landed on his right shoulder.

"You need to clean yourself up. You're going to get blood on my floor," he sneered.

A quick glance told him that Sephiroth had in fact made him bleed during his brutal assault. "Fucking asshole," he fired at him as he took hold of the towel on his shoulder and threw it back at the man with surprising force. He reached to pull his pants back up to his waist, covering himself again before he slid the bowl of liquid vomit away from himself and lay himself down on his side, his back against the counter. He shut his eyes and gripped his stomach, hoping the lingering nausea would pass quickly.

"Pathetic," Sephiroth remarked as he bent down to pick up the bowl off the floor. "I should force this back down your throat," he said as he took it to the sink to dump.

"I gave you what you want. Now you have to hold up your end," Cloud said to him with his eyes still closed.

"Not yet I don't," the man argued. "We're not finished here."

"What else do you think you're going to get out of me today?" Cloud asked. "You already know everything Rand wanted you to find out."

"We have some time left and I intend to make the most of it," the man revealed.

He didn't understand. "But you got what you wanted," he repeated. He looked up at Sephiroth as he stood over him.

"I want more," he declared.

It actually amazed Cloud a little. Minutes after attacking him, he was already thinking of doing it again, even though he was clearly injured and ill. "You're an animal," he spat up at him. "I'm not going through that again today."

The man scoffed at him. "You think you have a choice. You think you'd be capable of fighting me now? You can try. I am having you again before our time is up," he stated with certainty. He left him on the floor then as he went off to use his bathroom.

Cloud struggled to lift himself up off the floor then. He used the counter to steady himself as he made his way into the galley on the other side and started going through the cabinets and drawers. He wasn't really looking for anything in particular. He was shocked to see there were knives in the one drawer. It surprised him that Hojo would allow Sephiroth to have weapons but then maybe the professor had some way of disarming him without getting close to him.

He picked up one of the knives and looked in the direction of the bathroom. As he held it in his hand he contemplated trying to use it on the former general. _Don't be stupid_ , he scolded himself, dropping the knife back into the drawer and closing it. _You'd never move fast enough to catch him off guard_. Then, the one thought he didn't expect entered into his mind. The one that had him imagining taking the knife and plunging it into his own body. _Stupider_ he said to himself, shaking his head.

He turned instead to where Sephiroth's stock of liquors sat and took hold of the vodka bottle, sliding it toward himself and screwing the cap off. He didn't give it a second thought before lifting it to his lips and beginning to flood his empty stomach with it.

"That's awfully bold," Sephiroth said from nearby as he'd returned from the bathroom. "Don't recall you asking." The man approached him and reached for the bottle, pulling it from him. Cloud looked back at the man intensely.

"Don't recall you ever asking if it was okay to fuck me either," Cloud shot back at him with a challenging glare. "And if you're set on doing it again then I'm taking as much of it as I goddamn want." With that, he pulled the bottle back from the man's hands and went on to try and chug down what was in it as though it were merely water. Sephiroth only allowed him to do so briefly before suddenly knocking the bottle from his hands where it hit the nearby counter and smashed to the floor.

"You just vomited a minute ago," the man pointed out sharply.

"So what? You care?" Cloud fired at him before he found himself shoving the man back from him in a burst of fury. Sephiroth was fast to reach out and take hold of his neck, his large hand wrapping around it and squeezing tightly as he pushed him back against the sink.

"No, I don't want your vomit in my bed!" he declared loudly.

"Get away from me!" Cloud shouted as he made a move to try and strike the man in his face. That attempt had the ex-general releasing his neck but lacing a hand into his hair instead and pulling him out of the kitchenette by it. Sephiroth stepped over the broken glass of the vodka bottle but Cloud unfortunately made contact with it as he was being dragged across the floor, pieces of glass embedding themselves in the skin of his feet.

He was forced by his hair all the way to Sephiroth's bedroom where the man threw him down on the bed. Cloud's head was spinning at that point, which had him wondering if the alcohol could have affected him that fast. Maybe. It was early morning. He hadn't eaten. He really wasn't used to alcohol. Certainly not multiple cups of it. It occurred to him then that he couldn't even be sure if he was allowed to have alcohol with all the drugs Hojo had him on. He couldn't dwell on it for long as his thoughts began drifting and his limbs were beginning to numb. He couldn't even really feel the glass that was now planted in his flesh.

"Idiot," he heard Sephiroth say from where he was standing looking at his injured feet. For some reason it made him laugh. "You think it's funny?" the man asked him angrily.

"Yes," he said as his laughing continued. "It is."

His laughs turned to a cry when the man leaned over and pulled one of the glass shards from his right foot. He retracted his foot from Sephiroth's grasp and tried to keep him from taking hold of it a second time. The man did manage to catch it, however, and was able to pull a second piece of glass from his skin.

"Fucking child," the man spat at him before pulling the third and final piece of glass from his feet, this one in his left foot. Cloud didn't move or cry out that time. He just stared at Sephiroth as the man picked the glass pieces up from the bed and put them in his one hand. Renewed tears hit him then, flooding his eyes as his situation pummeled him in the chest hard.

"I hate you," he said to Sephiroth with clear conviction. The man's cold eyes looked back at him. Slowly, the man leaned over him, his free hand taking hold of Cloud's jaw once more in a tight grip.

"Not as much as I hate you," he said as if he were making a promise. Suddenly, the man's mouth was on his. His lips pushing hard against his own for a full second before Cloud shoved him away.

"I hate you!" he yelled. It was Sephiroth's turn to laugh as the man walked away from him somewhere. "You killed my mom," he found himself crying to himself. "You killed my mom…"

By the time the man returned from wherever he'd gone, Cloud knew without a doubt he was now fully affected by the alcohol. His vision was blurring and he felt as though his limbs were falling away from his body. He didn't feel the pain from Sephiorth's last assault. He didn't feel much of anything. He could have fallen asleep if the man had let him but the first thing Sephiroth did when he returned was take hold of Cloud's pants and rip them away from him completely. The man was also naked now.

"I'm going to make sure you enjoy this, my puppet," he said, his voice sounding farther away than it was. He took a moment to smooth Cloud's disheveled hair back from his face.

"Good luck, my rapist," Cloud mumbled to him through another short laugh that he couldn't control. He started to turn himself over on the bed, ready to get it over with, but Sephiroth stopped him, holding him down on his back. The man placed himself over him, and Cloud felt him maneuvering his hips and legs so he could push into him comfortably while facing him. He felt it. Felt the discomfort and knew that if he were sober he would also feel pain. His body must have known it because he still had tears rushing to his eyes.

The man started off slow. Every move was deliberate. There was a clear look of determination in his eyes that disgusted Cloud. He tried not to look at him and instead stared past him at the fuzzy ceiling and started imagining himself away. It was easier to do now. He started to wonder what the chances would be that Hojo would allow him his own stock of alcohol. Things didn't seem so bad when he wasn't in his right mind.

It was minutes of him lying there just willing it to be over with but a sudden unexpected feeling from inside him had him crashing back to reality. He didn't know what it was but it had immediately caught his attention. When he felt it a second time his breath caught in his lungs and had him gasping.

"There it is," Sephiroth cooed from above him.

He didn't know what the man had meant at first but suddenly, amongst all the discomfort he felt something else. Something that felt in the realm of good. Sephiroth had found some spot in him that made his body react in a way he didn't want it to and once he'd found it, he focused all his attention on it. The feeling had him reaching out and gripping the bed post that was next to him.

"Stop it," he breathed out, using his other hand to try and push Sephiroth back from him. It didn't result in anything but Sephiroth sliding his one hand under his lower back and holding his body tightly to his own, making friction between them clearly aimed at one thing. Cloud felt the stimulation in his genitals and he knew then without a doubt he was headed to his own unwanted climax. "Stop, stop," he found himself begging. His words only seemed to encourage the ex-general who pushed harder and faster to force that end result from him he didn't want. The stimulation reached a level that was almost painful, finding him crying out and Sephiroth moving his arms below him to grip his upper body and pull him even closer, locking their bodies together. His orgasm had his body shuddering beneath Sephiroth a moment before the man also reached the height of his pleasure. He gripped Cloud's body in a crushing embrace until he was finished.

Cloud lay under him in shock, feeling suddenly almost sober again and taking one laboured breath after another. He listened to the man's own soft pants, feeling his chest heaving against his own. It took some time for Sephiroth to move. He whispered into Cloud's ear then. "Did you enjoy yourself, puppet?"

Cloud shook his head at his words. "No," he denied truthfully. He'd enjoyed nothing about it, even if his body thought it had. Sephiroth lifted his head to look at him. He lifted his upper body a little more to look down between them.

"Oh yes, you did," he stated with a satisfied smile. He moved himself then off of Cloud and onto his back next to him. "Another set of sheets ruined," he commented almost proudly.

Cloud crossed his arms over his chest, gripping his own upper arms as he felt cold coming over him. Sephiroth lifted his head slightly to look at something.

"Looks like time is about up."

"You won't say anything about—" Cloud began to say but was cut off fast.

"For now," the man responded frustratingly. From somewhere a chime began to ring. "Your rescue is on its way," Sephiroth told him.

Cloud forced himself to sit up. His head spun as he did so. He looked at the floor for his pants but couldn't see them. "Give me my clothes," he demanded. It earned him a chuckle. The man wasn't going to help him at all. He knew that. After struggling to a shaky stand next to the bed, he reached up and took hold of a curtain attached to the bed frame. He ripped it down and wrapped it around himself, all the while Sephiroth watched him with a look of amusement.

"Until next time," he called after Cloud as he hobbled his way out of the room. His feet were still bleeding from the glass cuts. He tracked his blood through Sephiroth's quarters out to the room where the elevator was. The elevator hadn't yet arrived so he stood quietly trying to hold his balance. He wanted to get somewhere where he could be alone to agonize a while over what'd he'd just been through but he felt like he was going to pass out first.

He was standing directly in front of the elevator door as it opened. Rand gave the closest expression to one of surprise he'd ever seen. Readjusting his grip on the material in his hand he shuffled himself forward. Rand made a motion to help him in, which he pulled away from immediately.

"Don't touch me," he said sharply before placing himself between Rand and the clone that was with him. There was silence while waiting for the door to close.

"I'll bring you to see the doctor," Rand said to him on the way up.

"I don't need the doctor," he replied back definitively.

Rand seemed at a loss for words after that. Their trip back to his cell was silent. Cloud got to see Reno for the second time in that compound as they passed him in the hall where he looked like he'd just been coming down from Rand's office. He didn't make eye contact with the Turk as he passed so he couldn't see whatever his expression was.

"I was looking for you," Reno said to Rand who waved him off.

"I'll be with you in a moment," Rand told him.

As Cloud stepped into his cell Rand spoke to him once more. "I'm sorry it came to this."

Cloud shook his head. "You're not sorry for anything," he retorted. He turned to face the Keeper and let the torn curtain fall from his waist, showing his naked dirty body to the man. He reached out and shoved the material into the man's arms. "That belongs to your _general_ ," he shot at him. Rand frowned, looking down once at the fabric in his hands before finally turning and leaving.


	23. Chapter 23

_Hey everyone! Thanks for reading and reviewing the last chapter. This one is not nearly as eventful sorry XD  
_

~Twenty-Three~

Almost immediately after Rand had left Cloud's cell, the shower came on in the bathroom nook. He was surprised and relieved to realize he'd made it back to his cell before 7 am when the first of two shower times were. He'd been out of his cell for less than two hours and it had felt like days. He felt different. Older than he was just hours ago. And as he stood in the shower with water covering him he also felt disoriented. There was a sinking heavy feeling in his body but he didn't physically feel much else. It wasn't until hours later when he was woken from a heavy sleep in his bed that he was able to fully feel again. It wasn't pleasant.

"Wake up, C4," Rand was calling him. He heard him but didn't immediately respond or make any movements. His brain was slow to come out of the fog it seemed to be lost in. When he felt the cold cell air on his one foot suddenly he opened his eyes and observed Rand holding back the blankets to see his makeshift bandage job he'd done on himself.

The glass cuts in his feet had still been bleeding after his shower so he'd shredded some material off of the one sheet from his bed to wrap the wounds before he passed out. As Rand tried to get a look at them he pulled his feet out of his view back under the blankets, which the man released from his grasp.

"The doctor would have done a better job," Rand commented. Cloud just stared back at him, waiting to hear why he was there. "Sit up," he commanded gently.

"Why?" Cloud questioned, earning an expression from Rand that suggested he wasn't going to tolerate any amount of stalling.

"Sit up," he repeated before turning his back and picking up something off of a cart just outside the cell door.

Slowly Cloud complied, pushing himself up to a seated position painfully. His body was stiff and sore in many places, though it couldn't compare to what he'd felt like after the last time he'd been confined with Sephiroth. He glanced at the clock in the wall and discovered he'd been asleep for several hours. It was now late afternoon.

When Rand turned to face him again he had two small paper cups in his hands. Cloud knew what it was then, even before the cups were handed to him.

"You should have had the treatment this morning but I thought it better to wait," Rand said as he watched Cloud swallow down the mako pill he'd brought him, "given your probable significant level of intoxication," he concluded.

Cloud gave a light scoff, crumpling the paper cups in his hand. "Yeah? Did you watch live or did you wait for the recording so you could skip to the good parts?" he asked bitterly, tossing the crumpled paper in his hand to the floor when Rand reached to take it from him. The man glanced down at it before fixing his eyes on Cloud once more.

"Come on, let's go," he said to Cloud then, motioning to him to follow.

"Where?" Cloud asked him. He felt his body break into a sweat immediately. His brain raced at that simple command, wondering what he was headed for. Maybe Sephiroth had said something. Gone against his word that he would keep quiet.

Fortunately Rand didn't make him agonize too long. "Outside," he replied. "For the rest of your treatment."

It was something of a bittersweet surprise. Cloud spent most of the hours he was awake in his cell wishing he could be out of it. He longed for outside air. The warmth of the sun. At the moment, though, he was feeling more like staying in bed than making himself walk anywhere. He didn't hesitate long, however. He knew there wasn't really a choice. He walked along at a pained and awkward gait just ahead of Rand on the way to the elevator. All he could think of was what seemed like something he'd only dreamed. He didn't force himself to make it more real in his head, even if he knew it had really happened. He went into Sephiroth's chamber telling himself he wasn't going to care about what happened inside and he was committed to that. He just hoped it had been worth it. Something about Rand's demeanor told him it had been. He seemed at the very least, sullen.

Although Cloud was dying to know if Sephiroth had kept his word or not, he wasn't going to question Rand about it. Instead, he sat himself on the grass outside in that same small courtyard he'd been brought to previously and closed his eyes while turning his face upward to the sunny sky. He was happy to find it was as warm outside as it was the first time he'd been out there.

"The decision to have you outside for your treatment was something I convinced Galen and Hojo of," Rand spoke to him suddenly after a few minutes. "Initially, they had planned to implement a UV light in the lab, rather than use true sunlight."

Cloud opened his eyes a little, squinting as he turned to look at Rand nearby. The man was still wearing a leather coat he'd had on inside the building. He must have been sweating under it because it was far from coat weather outside. He had a flower in his hand he'd plucked from nearby and was pulling the petals off of it, letting them fall to the ground at his feet.

"Are you seriously expecting me to thank you right now?" Cloud asked him sharply and he smiled.

"You're angry with me," he stated almost as though Cloud had no reason to feel that way.

"You're surprised?" Cloud fired back. "You brought me to Sephiroth to be assaulted."

"You had a choice," Rand told him. He let the maimed flower in his hand fall. "You chose to withhold information from me. Potentially critical information."

Cloud stared back at him momentarily. He had been about to blow up at him over Rand's suggestion he'd been given a choice but his final statement had him taking pause. "Potentially," Cloud echoed, uttering the word mostly to himself. Did that mean…

"He didn't tell you anything did he?" Cloud asked Rand, supressing a subtle smile as he realized Sephiroth had probably kept his promise.

"Sephiroth is currently refusing to speak about it," Rand confirmed, sending a wave of relief through Cloud. It was short-lived, however. "It shouldn't matter. There is a microphone system wired into Sephiroth's rooms." Cloud's defeated expression had him donning a grin. "Suppose you forgot about that," the man noted. Cloud _had_ forgotten. And Sephiroth hadn't mentioned. Maybe he didn't know about it? It was all for nothing. He'd let Sephiroth do what he wanted to him and it was for nothing.

"Strangely," Rand continued, "and I do mean strangely, the system failed almost immediately after you entered his chamber. What I was left with was a video feed without sound. Frustrating to say the least. But…Sephiroth says he has the information I want. Not shockingly, however, he wants a trade for it."

Cloud's renewed relief fell away once more. He knew what it was immediately and it had his stomach churning. "Let me guess," he muttered while looking away from Rand.

"He wants an hour a week with you," Rand told him. "Seems you have an effect on him."

The revelation had Cloud lowering his head between his drawn knees. He ran his hands through his hair slowly as he tried to keep himself from letting his emotions show. An hour a week in Sephiroth's hands…he couldn't take that. Even worse than the thought of the man forcing himself on him repeatedly in a brutal, violent way was the thought of him forcing his body to participate and give him the false idea part of him was okay with the violation.

"I'm not going to do that, C4," Rand said to him, easing him slightly. "But I am going to inform Hojo of what I do suspect of your communications with Z1 and he can decide what he wants to do with you."

Cloud raised his head and faced him again with reddened eyes. "I'm not communicating with Zack!" he declared loudly.

"I won't send you back to Sephiroth but Hojo might," Rand said with a shrug.

If only that were the worst threat. Cloud knew Hojo was capable of more than that. The man was capable of many tortures. Sure he'd send him to Sephiroth but he could also have him beaten, whipped, and his nails wrenched from his fingers first. Maybe his toenails too. His eyes, his teeth. Who knew what else? The professor had been extraordinarily kind to him in his second imprisonment. But he could turn easily.

"Perhaps I should call him now," Rand said then, reaching into his pocket for his cell. Cloud watched him in shock a moment before he reacted.

"Wait! Rand! Please!" he blurted fast then. "You can't tell Hojo!" he said as he scrambled to get himself closer to the Keeper.

"I want the truth, C4!" Rand told him sternly with his phone in hand.

"I'm not talking to Za—Z1! I swear. I haven't talked to him since before I was brought here," he lied as convincingly as he could. Rand shook his head at his statement, proceeding to dial a number into his phone, which Cloud then tried to reach up for. "Stop! Please!" he begged. Rand pulled his hands from his reach, leaving him to clutch at his shirt and coat instead. He felt panic rising in his chest. He was in a lose-lose situation. If he said nothing he was screwed, if he told the truth he was screwed. He needed a lie that would be bought by Rand and one which protected Zack. "It's Jenova!" he blurted up at Rand. The man's eyes turned from his phone to look down at him where he was kneeling in front of him still gripping his clothing. "Jenova told me about Galen and Za…Z1," he claimed.

"How?" Rand questioned him with a critical gaze.

"Sh-she talks to me," Cloud began to explain softly. "She has since before…in the mansion. She knows things about people. I don't know how, but she just tells me things she knows sometimes."

"Really?" Rand replied doubtfully. There was still disbelief in his tone. "What does she tell you about me?" he asked curiously, though almost sarcastically.

Cloud shook his head. "She hasn't said anything."

At that, Rand gave a slight nod. Something in his expression softened and seemed to say that he was willing to entertain what Cloud was telling him. "Why didn't you just tell me when I asked initially?"

"Because, she didn't want me to. She doesn't like being talked about," Cloud answered him with what he believed was probably truth. Sephiroth had suggested he wasn't supposed to be talking about Jenova and whatever _gifts_ she had given him.

"So, you have been able to…speak to Jenova since the injection of the cells?" Rand continued to prod for information.

"I guess," Cloud agreed. "Around then."

"But Z1 doesn't speak to Jenova?" the Keeper asked next.

"No, she rejected him," Cloud told him fast. "She doesn't like him. He's useless to her."

Rand released a long exhale before dropping his arm, his phone still in hand, at his side. "You shouldn't have kept this from me, C4. You caused more harm to yourself than was necessary," he chastised while placing his phone back in his pocket.

"Are you going to tell Hojo?" Cloud asked him.

"I think so," he answered with a short nod. "It isn't something that should worry you, C4," he added at receiving Cloud's expression of building anxiety.

"You don't know him. If you tell him what you know about it he's going to fixate on it. He'll come up with some experiments to see how it all works and it won't lead to anything. He'll just hurt me and Jenova might leave me."

"Leave you?" Rand echoed in question.

"She'll reject me. She won't want to be a part of me anymore," Cloud told him with tears trailing his cheeks and falling from his chin. He hoped he was coming across as helpless and innocent as he was trying to seem. His tears were mostly voluntary at the moment. It was a moment when looking pathetic could help him so he was going to use it.

"You're asking me to trust you, C4 and something tells me not to," Rand spoke flatly, emotionlessly. "I have good instincts and they are telling me you've somehow been in contact with your friend. I may not know the professor but I've read enough and seen enough of you and Z1 that I feel comfortable saying I know the two of you."

The statement ignited a little anger in Cloud, though he was careful not to let it show. No one would ever understand the connection between him and Zack, certainly not by reading lab files and looking at surveillance.

"We—I'm not in contact with him!" he promised Rand. "Even in the weeks before I was brought here, we weren't speaking. We weren't…aren't friends anymore. That's why I was with Genesis." Part of it was true.

"Strange. Your bond seemed strong," Rand said with clear suspicion. He didn't seem to be buying into Cloud's claims.

"Turns out it didn't mean anything," Cloud told him. "He's a liar." The words were difficult for him to say. Even if Zack had lied to him, he was able to see his reasons and he had forgiven him.

At last it seemed Rand was going to accept his words. He gave a small sigh before leaning forward slightly and taking hold of Cloud's upper arms.

"Stand up," he commanded gently while helping Cloud to his stinging feet. Cloud winced as he put his weight on them again. "Perhaps I can consider the importance of this…Jenova information you've been holding on to for some time. Of how imperative it is that the professor be made aware of it at this time in the project." Cloud looked at him with surprise, sure that he had heard the man right but not sure he believed it. He waited to hear the stipulation he knew was to follow. "I'll consider considering it while the doctor is having a look at you," Rand concluded.

 _He's fond of you_.

Jenova's words came almost on top of Rand's, from inside his own head.

"Wh-what?" Cloud said, shaking his head a little.

"It's a non-negotiable," Rand replied.

"Fine," Cloud said, his brain finally separating Rand's statement from Jenova's. The last time she'd said anything was when he was brought to see Sephiroth the first time. He didn't like to hear that voice, or the range of voices that he assumed all came from the same source. He had spent so much time ignoring them in the past that after a while she really didn't speak at all. It was the first occasion he could remember when he was happy to hear her.

Fortunately, Rand didn't force him to make the longer trip down to the medical area. He was left in his cell while the Keeper went to retrieve the doctor. In the brief time he was left alone he lay down on his bed and shut his eyes.

"Are you there?"he spoke to the recesses of his mind. He didn't have to ask twice. He suspected he knew why.

"I'm not pleased with you, Cloud," she spoke sternly, though something in her tone was soothing as it echoed from the darkness.

"What else is new," Cloud said back dully.

"You do not speak to them of our family."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware of all your apparent rules," he said back at her, trying to actually sound sorry.

"You need something, child? I know you wouldn't be seeking me out otherwise," she said in return.

"I want your help," he revealed.

"I'm with you always. I will always help you," she assured.

"They're going to inject me with Seraph again soon," he told her.

"Yes, and a fruitless effort it will be."

"You need to let Seraph bond to you—or me, or whatever. Don't fight it," Cloud said.

"No. It is a virus I will not allow," she fired back at him fast. Her hatred for Seraph was clear in her tone.

"Yes, you will, so I can get us out of this place," he argued. "You want that don't you? We need all the help we can get."

"You're going to attempt to escape?" she questioned him with some surprise.

"Not attempt. _Will_ escape," he said surely.

"Is this part of Zackary's plan?" she asked him, her hatred for him also not hard to decipher.

"No. I want to get out as soon as possible. I don't know how long his plan will take and I really don't want him involved anyway if I can help it."

"You cannot trust him," she spoke coldly.

"I don't want to talk about him," Cloud said. "I want you to agree to what I'm asking."

"I have conditions, my little lamb," she spoke sweetly.

"Everyone does apparently," he muttered. "I'm not letting you take my memories again. Don't think I don't know what you did," he fired at her. That realization was something that had only come to him fairly recently, around the time he viewed all of Galen's files and videos from the lab. He'd suffered near complete memory loss by the time he and Zack had escaped the mansion in Nibelheim. Some of his loss had come from his mako poisoning that had contributed to his comatose state. The rest had been the result of Jenova. He figured the memories he still hadn't recovered were those that she had taken.

"My physical remains," she said, not bothering to acknowledge his statement.

Her words left him confused. "Your…"

"They've been stowed away," she told him. "You must retrieve them when you have freed us."

"Okay," he agreed, though he didn't really have any intention of following through on that. He hoped she couldn't read his true intentions.

"And your brother," she added, baffling him once more.

"Who?" he asked.

"Sephiroth. You must free him as well," she ordered.

"No, he's a psychopath!" Cloud spat back fast. "I'm not going near him!"

"He's your brother."

"My brother?" Cloud echoed. "Do you know how sick that sounds? After what he's done to me?"

"He's angry," Jenova said simply.

"He's a maniac," Cloud fired back.

"He is loyal and passionate."

Cloud scoffed. "To you."

"With time, he will come to understand his love for you as well. Those are my conditions," she concluded firmly.

He didn't really need to think about it. He wasn't planning to help Sephiroth anymore than he was planning to go on a scavenger hunt for Jenova's 'physical remains.' He just wanted out of the compound. He'd deal with her anger at his betrayal later. "Fine," he agreed to her terms.

"They're coming," was all Jenova said then before he felt her retreat back into some void in his mind. A moment later he heard his cell being unlocked and the doctor entered to do his examination. He wasn't sure he truly believed Seraph was going to be able to give him some sort of special powers but he was desperate to find out.


	24. Chapter 24

~Twenty-Four~

In the last days of his mako treatment, Cloud spent most of his waking hours and some of his dreaming ones imagining the things he would do with the power of Seraph combined with Jenova in his hands. He'd have super-human strength, some amazing ability to cut through locks and steel. He'd even started to imagine the things he would do when he was free. Go home of course. But before escaping the compound he'd track down Hojo and kill him so he'd never have to fear him again. If the professor wasn't in the facility he'd track him down later and kill him. Zack would probably want in on it anyway. He'd free Vincent from that box Hojo was keeping him in. He thought of killing Sephiroth too but it was just a fantasy. He would rather blow up the facility with him in it and never have to see his face again.

He'd had optimism. He needed it desperately to stay sane. And now…he was worried.

It had been nearly three weeks after the Seraph injection and nothing had happened. No super-human strength. No steel-cutting abilities. No anything. He'd asked Jenova if she'd followed through on their agreement they'd made and she said she had. She hadn't fought the "invasion of the virus."

So that was that. Seraph wasn't real. At least, the special Seraph abilities weren't. He tried not to be discouraged by it. Zack still had a plan to help him get out. So he tried to focus on the continued improvement on his fitness. He had asked to spend more time in the fitness room and Hojo agreed, giving him four hours a day to himself to work out. He'd jokingly mentioned to Rand that the only thing that was missing was music to listen to. The man seemed to take the request seriously and said he'd look into it. Maybe Jenova had truly sensed something when she declared that the Keeper was "fond" of him. The idea was an obscure one to him. He also didn't know exactly what it meant. What was it about him the man could be fond of? The man was so unreadable. He had many encouraging words to give but his facial expressions never really said anything.

The scary thing was how easy he found it was to manipulate both the professor and the Keeper by being a willing little participant. Hojo had said once that if he stopped fighting he would be cherished, not punished. It certainly seemed that way. He knew if he turned up the charm he could probably get himself whatever he wanted, within reason. So far he'd gotten four hours a day in his own private gym, nearly anything he wanted to eat, including desserts, and even a sketchbook. He wasn't allowed pencils or pens—too much like weapons—but he had a few pieces of charcoal to use should anything actually come to mind that he felt like sketching. He wasn't an artist in the least. He wondered if he had been when he was a kid but he doubted it. So far the only thing that had come out of him were some swirls and shapes.

What was so scary about his powers of manipulation was how badly he wanted to use them. It was almost like an addiction. Something in him wanted to give in to anything that was asked of him to see what he could get out of it. He knew though if things were going well then something bad was on the horizon.

That morning finally came, only he didn't know it at first. It started typical, or at least what he was coming to see as a normal day. He got himself up slowly, rubbing his eyes as he did so. They were bleary so when he glanced at the breakfast tray on the floor near the door while passing it he couldn't really tell what was on it. He made his way to the bathroom to relieve himself and splash some water on his face to wake himself up. His extended work-outs had been giving him more muscle pain than usual and it was making it harder to get out of bed in the morning.

When he returned to the breakfast tray he crouched down to pick it up and that's when he noticed something different. There was more than food on the tray. There were two empty clear plastic cups with orange caps sitting on it. There were white labels stuck to the cups. He picked up the one cup to look at it more closely. Written in pen on the label was one word. _Urine_.

"What the hell," Cloud uttered quietly to himself. He'd never been asked to provide a urine sample before. Or maybe he had and just couldn't remember. Almost every day he'd had a blood sample taken. He wondered now why that wasn't enough. It had to have something to do with Seraph. He supposed it wasn't a really big deal, but how much of his urine did Hojo need? Two cups full?

He picked up the second cup and turned it to read the label. He paled at seeing the word written on it.

"No way," he stated firmly before setting it back down on the tray. As troubled as he was by that empty cup, he chose to pretend it didn't even exist, deciding instead to eat his breakfast and move on with the day. He pushed the tray back through the door slot and took his shower when it came on shortly after.

The topic of the sample cup would come up later when Rand had come to see him while he was in the fitness room.

"Good morning, C4," Rand greeted him when he entered the small room. Cloud forced a small polite nod while he was jogging on the treadmill. Funnily enough the machine he used to hate and associate with torture had become one of his preferred pieces of equipment.

"Thank you for providing the urine sample you were asked for this morning," the man said when he'd taken a seat on a nearby bench.

Cloud shrugged before wiping some sweat from his face with his hand. "Whatever. What's Hojo even need it for?" he asked, panting a little.

"For testing," Rand replied simply. It was an obvious response that Cloud knew he'd probably get. "Did you not see the second cup?" the man asked then after a moment.

"I saw it," Cloud admitted.

"Did you need instructions on how to fill it?" the Keeper said in a kind of mocking tone. His attempt at humour wasn't lost on Cloud. What Rand was jokingly asking him was if he needed to be told how to provide a semen sample. Because that's what Hojo was asking for.

Cloud stopped the treadmill then. He turned to face Rand, leaning on the one hand rail of the machine. "What's he need it for?" he asked.

"For testing," Rand said.

"For what?" Cloud pressed.

"That's not your concern," Rand told him, only frustrating him more.

"There's no way he's getting that from me," Cloud stated firmly.

"No," Rand agreed softly, surprising him a little. "It won't be him."

Cloud stared back at him, taking in what he had just implied. "What's that supposed to mean?" he questioned sharply, though he knew what it meant.

"Do you know how those samples are taken from animals?" the Keeper asked him back. "By coaxing," he concluded.

"Forcing," Cloud corrected.

"It's in your hands or mine," the man said with a kind of smirk.

"Funny," Cloud fired at him as Rand gave a subtle chuckle. "You're not touching me," Cloud told him.

The man grew serious again. "This really isn't worth fighting, C4," he said gently. "It's not something that has to hurt you, unless you make it that way." He stopped Cloud before he could protest or argue. "Please, don't say anything else. I'll leave this with you. You have today to comply. Provide your sample willingly."

Rand left him then to stew over what he'd been told, not that what the man had said was going to change his mind. The empty cup was on both his lunch and dinner trays that day but stayed empty. He went to bed that night pretty serious about his resolve not to comply and provide a sample to Hojo. Something about it seemed perverse and he had a sick feeling in his stomach about what exactly the professor wanted it for. He was determined and pretty sure he could fight Rand or anyone else trying to force a sample from him. That all changed in the morning when he was woken early by two clones pulling him from his bed and dragging him from his cell into the metal room. It was reminiscent of the days he was forced from his cell to that room to be beaten. This was different, though. There was no beating awaiting him in the metal room. Instead, he fixed his eyes on a large dentist-type chair. Leather with straps attached to the arms, meant to hold him down. Rand was standing next to it, undoing the cuffs on his crisp black dress shirt and rolling up the sleeves. Worse than the site of Rand and the chair was the other presence in the room. It was Reno.

Cloud dug his heels into the floor and fought to get out of the grip of the clones.

"You're wasting your time and energy, C4," Rand told him, though he barely heard him. He was too busy being overpowered and forced to the floor. "If you don't stop fighting, the Turk is going to electrocute you," the Keeper warned him.

Reno looked at the man at that. Of course he had his electro-mag rod but he wasn't looking to use it on Cloud. He'd been forced to do so weeks earlier when Strife had been in a fit while under mako-delirium. He'd shocked him with the rod to keep him from injuring himself more than he already had. He really wasn't looking to use it on him as a mode of control, especially in the current circumstance. The evening before he'd been ordered by Rand to accompany him in the morning to Cloud's cell but he hadn't been told why. When he'd entered the metal room with Rand and seen the chair he'd asked what exactly was going on. The vague answer he'd been given was that they were going to be collecting something from Strife. It didn't sit well with him and it certainly wasn't now as he was watching Strife writhing around under the crushing grip of Hojo's hulking enforcement. He wasn't making it easy for them to restrain him.

"Last warning," Rand spoke down to Cloud. He gave him a final moment to give in before looking at Reno and giving him a nod.

Reno dropped his arms at his sides and fired up the mag rod he was holding his right hand.

"Stand back, freaks," he ordered the clones. The second their hands were off Strife, he was shooting him up with a dose of electricity.

The wave of it ran through Cloud, zipping to the tips of his fingers and toes and making him cry out from the sudden intense pain. It only lasted a moment and was replaced by weakness and a feeling he'd been instantly zapped of energy. With his brain in a bit of a sudden haze he found himself looking up at Reno while he felt his body shaking.

"Asshole," he said to the Turk, not even thinking about it.

"What?" Reno said back after a brief moment. "You want some more?" he questioned with what Cloud could tell was a forced expression of cockiness. He knew Reno hadn't wanted to hurt him. Somehow he just felt it and it actually made him feel guilty about it. He was still shaking as he was lifted from the floor by the clones and strapped down in the nearby chair. He felt numb and his eyelids were suddenly heavy.

"That was unfortunate," Rand commented from next to him. "This may take longer than hoped," he added as he noted Cloud's semi-paralyzed state. "That's okay, we have time," he concluded.

"What exactly are you collecting?" Reno had to ask, balancing his mag rod on his shoulder casually. There was nothing in the room outside of the chair and a tray with a collection cup.

"A seminal sample," Rand told him and he couldn't contain his sudden laugh. Rand turned to look at him. He wasn't joking.

"Are you fucking serious?" Reno asked him.

"Of course," Rand confirmed. He turned back to face Cloud, reaching to undo his pants.

"Get away from me!" Cloud shouted at Rand, snapping back to reality.

"Wait, wait, wait—" Reno spoke nearly on top of Cloud's protest. This was going too far. In fact, things had gone too far more than a few times lately. Disturbingly far. Though he hadn't been explicitly told about some of what had been forced upon Strife since he'd been there, he'd been given access to the medical reports as he had clearance to report on the status of the _specimen_. He knew Strife had been exposed to abuse that was nowhere near scientific. He wasn't on-board with that at all. Not even fake on-board. There was no way he could pretend to be okay with what was going on.

"Is there a problem?" Rand turned slightly to ask him.

"Uh, maybe," Reno answered him sharply. "You can't just—"

"What?" Rand challenged. "This is not what I want," he explained calmly. "C4 was given the option to provide a voluntary sample." He looked down at Cloud then. "I'm sorry if this distresses you," he said softly though Cloud was unsure if he was speaking to him or Reno. The man proceeded again to reach for the waistband of his pants.

"Stop!" he yelled out before he could pull at the material of his pants. "I'll do it," he said, making Rand pause. "I'll do it," he repeated when the Keeper didn't immediately step away from him.

"If you're lying—" Rand began to warn him but he cut him off fast.

"I'm not," he denied. "I'll do it. Let me go. Please."

He wasn't lying. He'd given up. Rand was right. It wasn't worth fighting against giving the sample willingly. Doing it himself was going to save him the utter humiliation of Rand forcing a sample from him in front of Reno. And it would save him some future nightmares.

"Alright," Rand said at last, proceeding to undo the restraints on him. When he was standing again next to the chair, the Keeper handed him the empty sample cup. He looked at his watch briefly. "You have a half hour to get it done. Just do it and forget about it," he advised, lifting a hand to Cloud's left shoulder and giving it a firm squeeze, almost like he was trying to be reassuring.

He nodded once before taking the cup back into his cell. The door shutting made him wince. He felt himself shaking then. Maybe it was the electrocution but more likely it was his nerves. He felt sick to his stomach. It couldn't imagine how he was going to accomplish what he had to do—well he could imagine how but he wasn't exactly in any mood to perform. He was going to have to think of something good. Much easier said than done. No matter how he put his mind to it, he still found himself standing back to the camera in the shower area of the bathroom nook trying to force his body to work for him.

"Come on," he muttered in frustration. He had his eyes shut tightly and was trying to think of anything, _anything_ arousing at all. All he could think of was Reno telling Zack the things he'd seen while he'd been working in the facility. He certainly didn't need Zack knowing about _this_. He tried to remember the things he may have thought about when he'd been having solo hands on sessions in the past but there hadn't really been any. Well, sure there must have been when he was growing up. He was sure of it, but he doubted he'd gone at it much while at the Academy or in the army and he was pretty positive he hadn't while he was locked up in the mansion. After the mansion things had been kind of uneventful as well. The consensual sexual experiences he'd had that he could remember were with Addley, the girl he'd met while working construction. Everything else…well.

Suddenly all he could think of was Sephiroth and it made him feel instantly like he was going to throw up. With his eyes closed all he could see was the man's face, his skin glistening with sweat and his eyes looking deeply into his own, like he was looking right into his soul. He could only associate the man and his body with pain but he definitely couldn't forget the feeling of something painfully good that he'd forced on him either.

He had to use it. It was the only reference he had in that moment. He didn't think about Sephiroth. He didn't think about the discomfort and the anguish and his body being suffocated by the one that gripped him hard. He just thought of that feeling that had made him need to reach the conclusion of it. Once he had it he held on to it and let him take him to the end result.

He didn't feel good about what he'd done when he'd slid the sample cup back through the slot of his cell door and he wasn't as relieved as he thought he'd feel, mentally. It had all felt wrong and he felt nothing but unsettled over the thought of Hojo having that sample.

That unsettled feeling ate at him over the next few days. It added to the panic he felt rising in him over the fact Seraph hadn't done anything for him. Overall, it left him feeling a renewed sense of hopelessness. He knew Rand had picked up on it. He'd asked him multiple times over those following days what was on his mind. He'd said nothing about it until they were outside in the courtyard the one afternoon. It was getting a little cooler now, the seasons changing. He actually felt like he could use a sweater but he ignored the feeling, hugging his knees to his chest as he stared at the courtyard wall ahead of him.

"Seraph didn't work," he said to Rand without looking back at him.

"What do you mean?" Rand said from where he was leaning on the opposite wall, watching him watching nothing.

"It didn't do anything," was Cloud's answer.

"As far as I know it's all gone as planned," Rand replied and Cloud looked back at him.

"I can't do anything now that I couldn't do before I had the injection," he pointed out and Rand shook his head.

"No, of course not without being activated," he explained and Cloud's stomach plummeted. His expression must have been one of shock. "Well Hojo's certainly not going to put a loaded gun in your hand until you can be trusted with it," the Keeper clarified for him.

So there it was. Seraph needed to be activated to be useful. So all his hoping for something to happen really had been for nothing. Rand approached him slowly then and crouched to get closer to him. "I don't want you becoming withdrawn or discouraged," the man told him softly. "Not when you've come so far."

Cloud nodded at his statement but he hadn't really heard him. He had focused his eyes on the corner where the courtyard wall met that of the building.

"Come on," Rand said, taking his one arm and pulling him with him to a stand. "Let's go back in." Cloud didn't resist. "Are you cold? You feel cold," the Keeper commented. He stepped ahead of Cloud to open the door back to the building. Cloud looked back over his shoulder briefly. With the door open, Rand held it and stepped aside to let Cloud go ahead of him back inside.

"Sorry," Cloud said as he faced him. He didn't give the Keeper a chance to respond. He drew his left fist back and threw it into the right side of Rand's face at full force. The impact sent the man down and he fell partly through the door back into the building. With the Keeper down, Cloud pivoted and sprinted his way toward the courtyard wall. He picked up as much speed as he could before reaching it, which wasn't easy to do without shoes on. He aimed for that corner where the wall met the building. He didn't think about what he was doing. He didn't want to. He was done thinking. He jumped when he reached the corner, using the wall to propel himself higher to where he was just able to catch the ledge of the wall with his fingertips. He knew he only had one shot to get over that wall so he strained with all his strength to lift his body upward. He heard Rand yelling to him as he was swinging himself over the wall to the other side. The man hadn't been knocked out by the blow he'd delivered him. He knew what that would mean.

Almost immediately after he'd hit the ground on the other side of the wall he heard an alarm sound. He needed to get away from the facility as fast as possible. The problem was in the how. As he righted himself and turned his back to the wall he'd scaled he found himself looking out to a short span of rock with nothing but water in the distance. He made his way to the edge of the rock, praying it wasn't what it looked like, but it was. He found himself standing on a steep cliff edge that dropped what looked like seventy feet or so into water.

There had to be another way. On the other side of the facility somewhere, there had to be a way off the rock. He had no time to search it out. It was mere minutes before clones were approaching him. Three of them. One was holding a gun in his hand. It was a sedation gun. He'd been shot with one before. He heard more approaching voices from the other direction and he turned his eyes from the clones to the crashing water below. Only one way out. He had to jump. Seventy feet wasn't too bad. Then there was the swim. To where? There was no land he could see on the horizon. He had no choice.

He took a few quick steps back from the edge. He needed to get a bit of a run and jump to make sure he could clear the few outcroppings below. That's when the clone fired the gun at him. The dart hit him in his right side, planting itself between his ribs and it threw him off. It wasn't the pain, just the impact that had him stumbling and instead of leaping from the edge of the cliff, he found himself slipping off it, tumbling head-first. He looked down in horror for only a split second before he shut his eyes and held back the yell that wanted out of him.

By some miracle, he missed the outcroppings in the cliff side, but the impact his body made with the water was about as painful as he imagined it would have been if he'd hit them. It felt like his chest had been pummeled by a truck and it nearly knocked him unconscious. It had him crying out into the water and he went limp while the pain was rippling through him and his head was spinning.

In those few moments while he was on the verge of blacking out his mind was invaded suddenly with images. He saw Tifa. She was younger and he was looking down at her, into her wide terrified eyes as he held her hand in his own. She begged him not to let go before they were both falling. That's right. He'd fallen into water once before. It all came back to him in an instant. Tifa. She'd been on a collapsing bridge in Nibelheim. The ropes had snapped and he'd just managed to capture her hand before she fell. But it hadn't saved her from falling. They'd both slipped from that cliff into the lake below where somehow he'd managed to swim them both to safety. Tifa. She'd been his childhood friend. He remembered now.

The need to breathe was fast to send him back to fight-mode. He gained back control of his limbs and fought to stay conscious as he opened his eyes and searched for the surface. He followed the bubbles around him and tried to swim with them. He found out quickly he couldn't do it. The sedative overtook him, making him heavy. His head became foggy. His lungs ached for oxygen and begged him to get to it. But he couldn't. Things in his life he'd forgot—people—their faces were appearing before him, flashing in front of him. Tifa, his mother, Zack. He heard their voices but they were drowned out by one. Jenova. She screamed as he felt himself sinking and dying. As the water seeped into his airway and suffocated him. The worst pain he'd ever known before his vision spotted over. Spotted over Tifa, and his mother, and Zack. It was dark, and then…it was quiet.


	25. Chapter 25

_Hey guys, sorry for leaving the last chapter on a cliffhanger for so long. Here's an update with maybe an equal cliffhanger haha! You're welcome. It was meant to be longer but I seem to be lacking in time for writing lately so I didn't want to make you wait too long. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. I like to answer my reviews if possible but unfortunately I can't if you leave a guest review so I wanted to take a moment to say a special thanks to those of you who have also guest-reviewed the previous chapters. Thanks everyone and I'll try to update again before Christmas but if I don't get the chance, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all that jazz. :D  
_

~Twenty-Five~

In the months after Angeal had died, Zack used to dream of the lifestream, or at least what he imagined the lifestream was like. Aerith had described it to him once. Endless paths paved in light. A maze leading to a multitude of heavenly places. But just as those paths led to beauty and comfort, they could lead to places that were darker and terrible. The 'places' were not physical, but instead were like states of being or existence. He didn't know how a person would come to exist in an eternally bad place in the lifestream but it was something he feared. He had had many nightmares where he'd imagined Angeal trapped in one of those places. Aerith had reassured him that Angeal would be at peace in the lifestream, just as he had been with his own death. After he'd finally accepted that, he'd stopped dreaming of the lifestream. Until now.

He woke in the midst of the dream from a nap he'd been taking in his and Aerith's apartment. He sat up fast on the couch, calling Aerith's name, though he didn't mean to. It happened like reflex. He felt panicked, still feeling as though he were running down those pathways of twisting light, unable to find his way out or to any end to speak of. He found himself panting and struggling to take in a deep breath.

At hearing her name called, Aerith came from the bedroom and moved to sit next to him on the couch.

"What's wrong?" she asked as she placed a hand on his sweating back. The material of his shirt was clinging to his skin.

"I don't know, I feel like I can't catch my breath," he told her.

"Zack," she spoke with concern. "You're freezing." She could feel the cold of his body through his clothing. She reached then for a blanket that was folded over the back of the couch and used it to cover him up.

"I'm okay," he assured her. "I just…"

"What?" she asked after a moment. She watched his eyes as he looked off into some invisible place, staring. He shook his head a little and shut his eyes tightly.

"I have this feeling like...I forgot something, or…lost something." He couldn't explain it. There were no words that could describe the feeling he had. He felt it through his whole body. It was almost the feeling he had in the first weeks after losing Angeal. That something just wasn't right. Like the world had completely changed and was never going to be the same again. It almost felt like grief that he was trying not to feel. Like he was drowning and trying to reach the surface, furiously trying to get his body to swim.

His mind went to Cloud and Aerith could see it. "You think it's him?" she asked, not needing to say his name for Zack to know. He didn't acknowledge her question though, as he stared across the floor ahead of them. The floorboards had become like rippling water. It was cold and too dark to see below the surface and yet he knew in his soul that Cloud was down there somewhere beneath the tossing waves. It was so real he almost reached a hand out into the aqueous mirage, to grasp hold of his friend, but somehow he knew he would be out of reach.

"He's…" Zack started to say to Aerith but the words were hard to pull together. "He feels…far away." He turned to look at her. "It doesn't make sense," he said. He knew he had to try to contact Cloud to explain what he was feeling.

It would have to wait. His phone rang suddenly. It was Johnny who had called him.

"Can you meet?" Johnny asked him.

"What's it about?" Zack asked back, not sure he was up to making himself go anywhere at that moment.

"My hacker just contacted me. He's gotten through what he thinks was the toughest firewall in the Shinra security network at the Gongaga facility. It's time to start formulating the next stage of the plan," Johnny told him.

"You're sure?" Zack questioned. His tone didn't let on his feelings. Relief, excitement, renewed hope. He was afraid to feel those things prematurely.

"Yeah," Johnny confirmed. "He's holding off on breaking through the final barriers until we're ready to make the move that counts. Right now no one's detected what he's been doing but once he takes control of the system someone will definitely notice so it's got to be when we're ready for Strife to get out of there. It's time to get mobile. If you're ready."

"Definitely," Zack agreed.

"Can you meet me at the warehouse?"

"Yeah," Zack said. "I'll be right over."

"What is it?" Aerith asked him when Johnny hung up and Zack lowered the phone from his ear.

He put his phone down on the coffee table and reached for her hand as he looked at her. "We're going to Gongaga," he said to her and she smiled before pulling her hand from his to put her arms around him.

"Cloud's coming home," she told him and he wanted to believe it but that awful feeling he had when he'd woken was still gripping him hard.

000

Hojo stood for a few moments in silence staring at the white sheet that was draped over the body-shaped lump on the gurney in his lab. Only it wasn't just a lump. Beneath the sheet was what remained of Specimen C4. Standing nearby were Galen, Rand and Reno. He'd dismissed his assistants and the doctor from the lab when he'd arrived.

Galen was the one to break the heavy silence in the room. "Any tissue you're wanting to harvest needs to be collected now—"

Hojo held a hand up, telling him to be quiet.

"You need to do the autopsy," he pressed on. "We can put him back on ice but tissue degeneration is starting." Still no action from the professor. "It's been hours—"

"Stop talking!" Hojo shouted his way suddenly. "I'm aware of the urgency!"

Galen sighed to himself as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. He watched as Hojo took hold of the sheet before him and pulled it down to reveal C4's pale and bluish face. His hair was still damp with sea water.

"Explain again how this happened," the professor said over his shoulder. Anger was evident in his tone.

Rand knew the question was for him.

"He escaped over the wall in the courtyard," he stated calmly. Hojo had already been informed of the specimen's escape hours earlier and it had immediately prompted his return to the facility from business elsewhere. But he hadn't yet heard the details of what led up to it.

"How?" the man asked next.

"He was able to scale it," the Keeper told him.

"In restraints?" the professor said back fast. Though Hojo wasn't looking his way he could still see the redness on the back of the man's neck as his anger was building.

"He wasn't in restraints," was Rand's simple answer. It had never crossed his mind to lie to the professor about what had occurred.

Hojo turned around to look at him then. "You are responsible for this, Rand," the man fired at him.

"I agree, professor," he said with a nod. Perhaps it wasn't the right thing to say because it certainly seemed to strike a renewed fury into the man.

"You agree?" Hojo nearly shouted. "Is that it?" he added as he took a few steps away from the gurney next to him but he pointed back at the specimen's body as he yelled "Do you know how much money and time has been invested in that thing lying there!"

"I do," Rand agreed again. "I understand what I have cost you and the company and I willingly accept the consequences for that. Legal, financial and otherwise."

It seemed for a moment that Hojo was at a loss for words. He glanced down at C4. "Why is it that you chose not to restrain him?" He seemed genuinely interested in the answer to that question.

Rand hesitated a brief moment, a subtle sigh escaping him before he confessed. "A regrettable lapse in judgement," he said finally.

Hojo smiled unexpectedly before the expression descended once more to something dark and disapproving. "No, it's because you let him affect you emotionally, just like I knew would happen! Against _my_ better judgement I put trust in you to control him and you failed! He controlled you. _That_ is why this has happened." Rand was shocked by the accusation that had burst from the professor whose voice quivered and eyes almost seemed to collect dampness bordering on tears. Undoubtedly from anger rather than sadness. The Keeper couldn't really deny the accusation though.

Confronted only with silence from Rand, Hojo turned to look at Galen. "You'll assist me in the autopsy," he instructed. "Get the instruments."

"Already prepped," Galen told him as he approached a nearby cart and pulled it towards the gurney. He folded back the cloth covering what was on it to reveal a tray of what looked like surgical instruments.

Reno could just make out some of the tools from where he was standing several feet away. Scalpels, some kind of small electric saw and various empty containers.

"Yo," he spoke up as he watched Hojo and Galen putting on rubber gloves. "I don't think you're going to need me so you can just forward me your report and—"

"You stay," Hojo ordered without looking back at him.

"I'm not a doctor or your assistant so you can't—" Reno started to protest but was again cut off.

"This now failed project was not on public record with Shinra and the specimen's autopsy won't be either. My notes are for myself. Should the president require some sort of official oral account from you as a representative of the Turks then you're going to need to give it."

The man had a point he really couldn't argue. But could he really separate himself from his feelings he had at that moment? No. He looked away as Hojo pressed the scalpel blade into the flesh of Cloud's chest. He couldn't watch what was going to take place. He knew his stomach wouldn't handle it. All he could think of was Fair and how he was going to react when he learned Strife was dead. He was going to lose his mind. That was if he could accept it to be true. Reno still couldn't really believe it. He'd been there when Strife's lifeless body had been fished out of the water and brought back into the facility and had been present during the failed attempts at resuscitation. Strife had been gone before Galen and the doctor had begun the process and it had been mentally agonizing to watch them essentially beating upon his dead body trying to make it respond. He'd seen the panic in all of their eyes, including Rand's when they'd realized there was nothing they could do. When they realized that someone would have to let Hojo know.

Hojo had made the first part of the incision and was about to draw the scalpel down in the direction of Cloud's navel when all of a sudden Cloud's chest heaved and out of his mouth water suddenly spurted and ran over the sides of his face. Hojo and Galen were both frozen in place. The scalpel in Hojo's hand was still hovering close to Cloud's skin. Reno had turned to look at what was happening and Rand had drawn closer, watching with confusion. Hojo looked at Galen with a questioning expression and Galen just shrugged, not knowing what could have caused the body to suddenly expel water. They both gasped then as fresh blood started seeping from the incision Hojo had made. It was only a second before the seemingly lifeless corpse began coughing, sputtering more water from its lungs. The impossible movement had them stepping back from the gurney in shock.

Cloud had woken with the suffocating feeling of drowning still lingering. He coughed and choked on the water that had been trapped in his chest. His throat stung painfully and as he sucked air into his lungs, he felt like they'd been starved of oxygen for days. He couldn't catch his breath.

"This is—it's not possible," Hojo remarked as he dropped the scalpel in his hand and reached to take hold of Cloud's head. "C4?!" he called to him and Cloud pried his heavy eyelids open slightly to look up at him. "He's alive," Hojo marveled.

"Get him on his side," Galen told him, urging him to step aside. He grabbed hold of Cloud's body and pulled him onto his side. The remaining water trapped in Cloud's lungs was able to escape then as he was finally able to cough it out and take in a few deep breaths of air.

"Blankets," Hojo barked at Galen who retrieved two from a cabinet. The incision in Cloud's skin was bleeding more steadily in just moments of him being awake. Very slowly the colour was coming back to his face and body.

Cloud thought he was paralyzed. He couldn't feel anything outside of the pain in his chest. He couldn't move his arms or legs. He thought it was the sedative he'd been shot with before he fell into the water. Before he'd _escaped_ into the water. He'd been pulled out and dragged back to the lab, which meant one thing. Hojo was going to punish him for his failed attempt at getting away.

"He wasn't breathing. He had no pulse," Galen said. "We attempted resuscitation for nearly an hour."

"Well he's breathing now," Hojo snapped.

"Brain damage is imminent,"

"We'll deal with it later. Right now we need to close the incision site. Get him on his back again."

Galen rolled Cloud flat on the gurney once more. Hojo was quick to prepare for the suture. Cloud groaned as he felt the suture needle sliding through his flesh. He would have cried out but he couldn't do it and he wondered why. Galen's words were sinking into him. Not breathing. No pulse. He thought about the water, about the panic he'd felt in those last moments before he'd lost consciousness. The cold liquid invading his airways. Jenova screaming in terror. Had he been…dead? Clinically dead? The conversation he heard between Galen and Hojo as he lay motionless on the gurney while he was being issued a long line of stitches in his chest told him he had in fact been dead. He didn't know how that was possible but he was quick to learn what it would mean as the conversation above him switched from one of questioning logic and turned to hypotheses. Was it a chance thing that he had managed to recover from death? Or could he do it again?


	26. Chapter 26

_Hey everyone! I tried to get this out before Christmas. Didn't happen but not too far off, right? Haha! I tried not to make you wait too long. Happy Holidays everyone :D  
_

~Twenty-Six~

"Squeeze as hard as you can," the doctor told Cloud who held onto the grip tester in his right hand a little tighter.

"I am," he said.

"Alright," the doctor replied with something of a small frown.

"So," Hojo asked him.

For the last two hours, Cloud had undergone every test under the sun in the facility's small infirmary. Only the doctor had been present for the entire process and Hojo had been in and out of the room as the testing had gone on. Cloud was happy for that. The fewer the people to stare at him like the freak he apparently was the better. The doctor took the grip tester from him and with his hands free he reached to take hold of the blanket around his shoulders and pull it tighter around his shivering body. He hadn't yet warmed up since waking up from his death sleep. He had more feeling than he'd had when he first woke up. His chest was aching badly. It wasn't only the wound that had been stitched closed in his torso but he learned quickly he had deep and heavy bruising from the CPR that had been performed on him.

"There seems to be some minor tissue changes I think can be attributed to hypoxia," the doctor spoke to Hojo. "There's going to be some muscle and joint weakness for a few days but he should recover fine."

"Results of the neurological testing?" the professor inquired next as he looked down at Cloud, meeting his eyes which Cloud averted promptly. As much as he hated when the man would talk about him like he was some animal or some object, he hated it more when those black soulless eyes actually regarded him and met his own gaze.

"No obvious damage," the doctor revealed "But an MRI would be definitive."

"No. He's not a drooling invalid so that's good enough for me," Hojo concluded callously. "You tried to escape, C4," he spoke down at Cloud. "You tried to kill yourself, and how appropriate that you should fail at staying dead just as you have proven failure so many times in your life."

It was a statement that prompted a subtle eye roll from Cloud.

"I hope you enjoyed your leisure time outside because it's never happening again," the professor went on. Cloud couldn't help but crack a smile at that.

"Is something funny? I'm not joking," Hojo said fast.

Cloud turned his eyes up to look at him again. "You sound stupid," he declared, earning himself a harsh glare from the man. "What? You'll just never have me go outside? What use will I have stuck down here forever?"

Hojo smiled sadistically. "Why, your physical body alone can be harvested for many purposes" "While I certainly want you for this project, I don't necessarily _need_ you, C4. Should you parish here, and now I doubt there is concern of that happening, the project will go on."

"Seriously? You want me to believe that you don't need me?" Cloud challenged. "After the lengths you've gone to to hold on to me."

"I think you forget you were not the only specimen in this project," Hojo pointed out, making Cloud pale in response to his words. "Oh, yes, C4. You _are_ indeed special, that is for sure. There is no one quite like you, not that I have come across. Your rebellious antics infuriate me but I put up with them because I see your progress and I believe the end result is worth it. But just because you are the ideal candidate for my project does not mean you are the only one. Don't think because he's not here that he is free."

Cloud knew Hojo was talking about Zack and it made his stomach sink hard hearing the psychopath mention him. He wanted to be that person with a stone cold poker face, and when it came to his own welfare he could do an okay job at pretending he wasn't worried, but with Zack…It was impossible to pretend the threat against Zack didn't bother him. He knew his fear for Zack must be evident on his face in that moment, if only just a little. As he began to lower his head again, looking away from the professor, Hojo's hand took hold of his face and he was forced to look at him again. "You'd be wise to want to please me, C4 and realize your place here because if it's not you then it's someone else," he warned. "Do you understand me?"

For a moment Cloud felt incapable of saying anything. He imagined in an instant shoving Hojo back from him before coming to a fast stand, taking hold of him and slamming his face into the metal surface of the nearby counter.

"C4?" Hojo spoke a little sharper.

He nodded in the man's grip. "I do," he agreed.

"Good," Hojo said as he dropped his hand from Cloud's face. He turned as though he were about to leave the room again.

 _Asshole_ , Cloud thought to himself as he watched him with a feeling of disgust and distain. As much as he wanted to lunge at him and attempt to tear him to pieces, he knew he couldn't take any chances, especially now that Hojo had made it clear Zack wasn't free from danger. He had made a mistake jumping that wall in the courtyard. Before that point he'd had Hojo and Rand thinking he was starting to accept his current reality. He was actually successfully manipulating them into giving him certain liberties including better food. He'd really screwed himself now, unless of course he could manage some sort of damage control.

"Did you fire Rand?" he asked at Hojo's back as he was about to open the door and leave the exam room where they were.

"Excuse me?" Hojo replied fast as he turned to face him.

"What I did wasn't his fault," Cloud told him a little meekly. "He couldn't have known I would run. I didn't mean to."

The man actually laughed at him then. "You didn't mean to?" he repeated incredulously.

Cloud shook his head. "I wasn't trying to escape. I just…I was freaked out. I panicked," he declared.

Hojo looked at him skeptically. "Over what?" he asked.

"Seraph," was Cloud's soft answer.

"And why is that?" the professor asked him.

"Because it didn't work. It didn't do anything," he explained though he wasn't sure Hojo was buying it. In fact, he could tell by his expression that he wasn't.

"That matters to you why?" Hojo asked him and he didn't really know what to say. Was there anything he _could_ say that would be believed?

"I was afraid," he said finally. It wasn't a lie. He _had_ been afraid. Afraid. Desperate. Hopeless.

"Of what?" he was asked next.

He shrugged a little. "Punishment, or some sort of painful experiment." He sure was worried about that now. "I just—I wanted it to work and when nothing happened, I just…freaked out. I thought it'd be better to just not exist anymore." It wasn't exactly true. He'd wanted to escape. Swim to safety somewhere, but now that his plan had been a failure he couldn't have Hojo thinking he'd meant to escape.

The professor stared him down a moment, looking him over, trying to decide if he believed what Cloud was telling him. It took a long minute for him to reply. "So your assumption of something you don't understand made you take that leap from the cliff, not your desire to escape? Dying is better than this?"

Cloud knew he wasn't buying it. "Is that hard to imagine?" he shot at the man sharply. "After everything."

"You have made the process so much harder for yourself than was needed," Hojo snapped back at him. "You think I've done such terrible things to you but you don't think of how you could have helped make it easier."

That was it. There was no hiding his emotions now. Cloud's mouth nearly dropped open at the man's words. He was angry immediately. "You stole my life!" he nearly shouted at Hojo.

"It doesn't belong to you!" Hojo fired back at him in his own anger-laced tone. "I saved you, even after you took something from me," he declared.

"Sephiroth?" Cloud exclaimed. "He's alive," he argued.

"Not exactly," was Hojo's odd response. "What he is is irreparable, at least for the time being. And so I have you, and I know I can make you better than he was."

There was nothing Cloud could think of to say to that. Better than Sephiroth? A better person maybe. He didn't think much of himself but he knew he was at least better than that monster in a few respects. But a better fighter? A better soldier? That he couldn't imagine in a hundred years. Faced against him he knew he'd lose. The best he could hope for was to get in some cheap shots if the opportunity presented itself.

He shook his head. "I'll never be like him," he uttered quietly.

"Yes, you will," Hojo argued. "So long as you survive," he added through a devilish grin. "You want death so bad, C4, you're going to get it." It came out as a threat and his expression said he'd meant it to be a promise.

It wasn't long after that he was brought back to his cell. It would be days before he saw Rand again, which had him thinking he must have been fired, or maybe worse. When he was first returned to the cell he spent some time pondering what had happened to him and what had been said _about_ what had happened to him. His ears had been wide open when listening to Hojo and Galen and the doctor discuss how it was possible he'd recovered from a fatal drowning. They each had their theories of course, but one word was making the rounds. _Seraph_.

He was confused though. Rand had told him Seraph needed to be activated in him for it to do anything. The Keeper had made it pretty clear to him that the compound hadn't been activated in him, on account of Hojo wanting to make sure he could be trusted with it. Was the man lying? Maybe. Maybe he actually knew nothing about Seraph. Maybe Rand had just wanted him to believe he didn't have control of Seraph.

Well, one thing was for sure, if Seraph was already activated and had been responsible for saving him, that's about all it could do for him at the moment. No amount of him imagining doing something with it like opening a locked door or punching through a cinderblock wall made it actually happen.

The following morning after he'd had his resurrection experience, the cell door opened early, around the time that a breakfast tray would normally be passed through the opening at the bottom of the door. He sat up, thinking it was Rand coming to see him for some reason. A chat. A game. A lecture. He wasn't sure. But it wasn't the Keeper who came into his cell. It was Galen, flanked by two clones.

"What's going on?" Cloud asked him as he got himself up out of his bed slowly. He had a feeling of dread immediately settling into his stomach.

"You're off to the lab, dynamite," Galen told him with a kind of knowing grin.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well, now, it doesn't really matter, does it?" Galen asked back. "Let's go," he said when Cloud's feet stayed planted to the floor.

Despite the feeling he had that he should fight, Cloud walked himself willingly to the lab where Hojo was waiting, along with the doctor. It was just them. No other assistants. No Rand, no Reno. It seemed so quiet. Something felt wrong. More wrong than usual.

His eyes were drawn to the metal table near the middle of the room. There was video recording equipment set up near it. Although he knew the lab itself had surveillance at all times, clearly Hojo was looking to get video documentation that was closer and of better quality of whatever he had planned.

"Would you come over here, C4?" Hojo beckoned him over.

"What's going on?" Cloud asked as he started to make his way slowly over to that menacing-looking slab of cold steel.

"It's going to be an exciting day today," Hojo told him before patting the top of the table. "Up you go," he directed. Cloud hesitated only a moment before complying, sitting himself up on the table. "Shirt off," the professor ordered and he removed his t-shirt slowly.

He could only guess at what was to come. He figured it must be some sort of examination, maybe to see how he'd progressed since the day before. Or maybe to check the wound on his chest that was rapidly healing. So quickly, in fact, that the stitches were nearly ready to be removed or else they'd be swallowed up by his newly growing tissue.

"Lie down," Hojo instructed next and he did, exhaling slowly as he did so. As his back touched the cold metal his skin broke out in goosebumps. "Aren't we the quick healer," Hojo remarked at seeing his incision site. "Restraints, please," he said in Galen's direction.

Cloud released a huff that caught Hojo's attention. "Problem, C4?" the professor asked him.

"Is it necessary?" Cloud asked while his wrists were being secured to the table. "I'm not fighting," he pointed out.

Hojo smiled. "Not yet," he replied darkly.

The words made Cloud suddenly very worried for himself but he didn't move or say anything as his legs were restrained and he watched Hojo and Galen getting ready to film whatever was going to happen.

 _He's going to kill me._

Those were the words that kept going through his head. Hojo's comment from the day before about how he was going to get the death he wanted so badly came to his mind. He didn't want to believe it because it didn't make sense. One second Hojo was telling him he was important and that he wanted him to be the next greatest thing compared to General Sephiroth, and the next he was killing him? He couldn't possibly believe that just because he'd somehow come back from the dead once that he could do it again…

"Right, we're ready," Hojo said to Galen as he finished putting on a pair of rubber gloves. Galen handed him something that made Cloud suddenly feel panic rushing through him. It was a knife. And not one of those surgical knives he'd seen and had used on him so many times before. It was a blade with a handle and it was big.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Cloud blurted up at him as he strained to lift his body against the table and the restraints.

"I'm going to kill you, C4," Hojo told him matter-of-factly. "I have to say it's something I've imagined doing at times in the past when you truly tested my patience.

"Are you fucking insane!" he yelled at the man hovering over him.

"You want the sedative?" Galen asked Hojo. He held out a syringe to him from the other side of the table.

Hojo denied to take it from him. "I've decided not to use it. I think I'd like him aware of what's happening to him," he said.

"I can gag him then," Galen offered and again Hojo turned him down.

"I'm quite fine with C4's screams. Nothing we haven't heard so many times before," he remarked with a grin.

Cloud darted his eyes from Hojo to Galen. Fear was bubbling through him, striking him all over. It was almost palpable. Like pain. But real pain was different. Pain was a strange thing. It wasn't always an immediate thing in response to trauma. He'd been impaled by sharp objects a handful of times in his life so it wasn't an unfamiliar thing to him but that fact didn't make it any easier to endure.

He was still looking at Galen when Hojo plunged the knife into his body. He felt a sudden pressure in his gut but it wasn't immediately painful. His breath caught in his chest and his whole body clenched up as he turned his head to look down his torso at the handle of the knife which was protruding from his flesh. The blade was fully submerged in his tissue. Even then he didn't feel the pain. It wasn't until Hojo pulled the knife from his body that he could feel it. He could feel the wound inside him and there was a sudden searing screaming agony that erupted as his blood seeped up and over the surface of his pale skin.

He was frozen, staring in horror at his wound until Hojo plunged the knife into him a second time, not far from where he'd planted the blade first. His instincts went haywire then. He screamed and fought his restraints as he was stabbed repeatedly in his torso. He didn't want to see what was happening but his eyes were locked in horror on his own body, watching the knife sinking into his body over and over. Dark red blood pooled and ran over his sides onto the table. Spots of it were flung into the air as the professor ripped the blade from his flesh. It dotted the man's white lab coat and he could feel it landing on his own face.

He begged Hojo to stop, crying in terror as he felt as though he was being carved up like some animal. It was the wounds to his chest, the knife blade penetrating his lung tissue that had his sounds dying down. Instead, blood was pushing its way up into his airway and into his mouth. It had him choking and gurgling for oxygen.

Hojo pulled the knife from him then and lowered it to his side. He had finished his attack and was now watching him as he was dying on the table slowly. It wasn't the blood that was suffocating him the killed him though. Somehow he was still able to manage the shallowest of breaths. It was the rapid blood loss that finished him off. It found his vision blurring and darkening and he was overcome by a heavy sinking sensation. The last thing he felt was his heart pounding hard against the wall of his chest, trying and failing to pump blood through his vital organs. It was sudden then. One moment he was simply dying, and the next he just…wasn't.

He was…alive. Wait? Was he alive? He must have been. He was standing, breathing. He was…surrounded in light.

He looked down at his body, and touched his hands to his chest. No wounds. Not even the wound he'd had from the day before that had been stitched closed.

"What's happening?" he asked aloud.

He felt strange. Like he couldn't quite feel the world around him. He had to look down to be sure his feet were on the ground. There was no ground. Not exactly. He could see it if he thought about it but if he didn't imagine there was a floor below him then he could see straight through it to miles and miles of twisting and sparkling streams of light.

"Oh my god," he uttered in shock. He became overwhelmed quickly. All the light, the feeling of infinite space…it was almost terrifying, but somehow he knew he was safe and that nothing could harm him there if he didn't let it. It didn't do much to put him at ease though. Just as overwhelming as the feeling of the vast space around him was, so was the feeling he had that he was completely on his own, and it had him overcome in a sudden anxiety.

Where was he? What awful experiment was he in now? How did he get out of it? Not knowing what else to do he started to run, trying to find something he recognized, or at least something that looked different.

"Wha—what do I do?" he whispered to himself as he ran himself short of breath. Another voice had him stopping dead in his tracks. He thought he'd heard it from somewhere behind him. When he turned around all he could see was the nothingness he'd run through. "Hello?" he called back. He lifted a hand to shield his eyes from the light. He heard it then. The other voice.

"Zack!" That's what it sounded like the voice had said.

"What?" Cloud squinted to make out what looked like a shadowy figure taking shape.

"Zack," the voice repeated. "It's me."

"Who are you?" Cloud asked.

"It's me," the person, a man, repeated in a deep voice. His features started to become clear. He was tall, muscular, with dark hair. He felt somehow that he knew him and yet he didn't recognize him. "It's Angeal," he said just before his face came clearly into view.

"Angeal?" Cloud said his name in surprise. He did know him. Or of him. Zack's old mentor from SOLDIER. He was met with a look of confusion.

"You're not Zack," Angeal commented with what looked like clear disappointment, and maybe something else, like relief. "You feel like him."

"What?" Cloud replied.

"Who are you?" the man asked him. It sounded almost accusatory.

"I—" Cloud stumbled with his words.

"You know Zack," Angeal stated a little softer, perhaps realizing he was coming across too harshly. Cloud nodded a little at that. "You're close to him. I can see it now. It's what confused me," he explained. "I followed his energy to you. I thought he'd…I thought something must have happened to him to find him here so soon before his time."

"Why?" Cloud asked. "Where are we?"

Angeal stared back at him a moment. "You don't know?" he questioned gently and Cloud shook his head. "What's your name?" the man asked him.

"Cloud," he told him.

"Do you remember what you were doing before you came here, Cloud?" Angeal questioned him and he nodded. Of course. Something that horrific wasn't likely to escape his memory any time soon. "You know, then, don't you?" the man said.

He knew. Of course, he knew. He felt it and seeing Zack's dead mentor simply confirmed it. He couldn't say it though. He got a renewed feeling of anxiety instead and it must have showed on him. A sudden light-headed feeling had him sitting himself down slowly.

"It's alright," Angeal told him.

"Is there a way out?" Cloud asked him and Angeal surprised him a little with a short laugh.

"Not if your time is up," he told him. "It's a lot to take in, I know," he added as he sat himself down near Cloud.

"Sorry I'm not who you thought," Cloud said softly. "I know how much Zack cared about you. He'd probably lose his mind if he saw you."

"Your bond is strong. I'm surprised I didn't know you from before," the man commented a little sadly.

"I didn't meet Zack until after you were gone, less than a year after actually," Cloud explained. "At the SOLDIER Academy." That's what he was told anyway. He couldn't really remember that far back. He did have memories of Zack talking of his old mentor though. Their bond hadn't been unlike his with Zack now. "He's my best friend," Cloud told Angeal. "More than that," he said a little quieter. He felt tears coming on then as he thought suddenly about the fact that in the Lifestream he had no hope of ever seeing him again, unless of course something happened to his friend to land him in that place, which is the last thing he wanted.

"Well, I'm happy to know he had someone he could care so deeply about," Angeal said.

"How did you find me?" Cloud asked. "You said you followed his energy. How does it work? I mean if I wanted to find someone here how would I do it?"

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure," Angeal admitted. "You sent out one hell of a signal when you got here. I'd be surprised if it wasn't felt through the whole Lifestream. It was pretty easy to follow your trail. Other energy signatures are more subtle. I think you'd know if you found who you were looking for if you got close enough. Sorry. I know that's not very helpful."

"That's okay," Cloud said. "I was just thinking maybe—"

He was silenced by an odd sensation that vibrated through his whole body. It was a strong feeling that every one of his cells were being jerked downward. He felt suddenly like the very matter of his body was shifting and changing, like one of those strange surfaces around him. He looked at Angeal and the man smiled lightly.

"Well, Cloud, guess it's not your time after all," he said but the words didn't make sense right away. A deep sharp pain in his chest had him shutting his eyes and gritting his teeth as he tensed his whole body. It stole his breath from his lungs and when he was finally able to gasp in some air he realized something was different. When he opened his eyes and recognized the ceiling of Hojo's lab, he knew somehow he'd fallen from the Lifestream back onto the living plane.

He cried out from the intense agony he felt in his torso. It felt again like he was being stabbed. He came to the conclusion quickly he must have simply passed out while Hojo was attacking him. The Lifestream had been some real-feeling dream. The pain had him trying to turn himself over onto his side but he couldn't do it. He heard the voices of Hojo and the doctor then.

"That's good, make the insertion," he heard Hojo say and he felt his left arm being lifted a little. He hadn't yet opened his eyes again after initially seeing that he was still in the lab but he did then so that he could see what was going on. What he saw was the doctor prepping his arm to insert a needle. He looked at his own torso, expecting to see blood but his skin was clean. He could, however see some lines of blue stitching. How long had he been passed out? From there he looked up at where Galen was hanging a bag of what looked like blood from an IV pole just behind the doctor. He rolled his head on the table looking to the other side where he met Hojo's gaze and his wide satisfied grin.

"I think commendations are in order, Galen," Hojo remarked, glancing over at his head assistant before turning his eyes back to Cloud. "We've managed the impossible. I do believe we've got our very own immortal."


	27. Chapter 27

_Hey guys. I am so so sorry that it has taken me so long to update. Things have been pretty hectic. At the very beginning of January my father had a medical emergency that nearly took his life. He's okay now but it's been a long 6 months of hospitals and medical procedures and he's still got a ways to go. So the stress of all that along with a new job with longer hours has done a really good job of killing my creativity. Thing have started to settle a little since last week so I'm looking forward to having some time to work on this story some more. I wrote a good section of Chapter 27 back at the end of December and while it's not as complete as I had planned, I wanted to put it up here now because I never want to do that annoying thing again where I don't update a story for a year. So, I really apologize if this chapter seems a little unfinished or lacking in something, or if there's errors I didn't see when I edited it quickly. Also, I'm very sorry if you haven't gotten a reply to a review you left. I'm going to try to answer them this weekend. Thank you so much for sending in those reviews. They are a huge motivation and source of encouragement. Okay, I guess that's all from me for now. Take care of yourselves everyone._

~Twenty-Seven~

Reno shoved his way through the lab door hard enough to make it slam against the wall next to it. There was no way it went unnoticed by Hojo and the lab staff but he didn't stop to worry about it. Out in the hallway he attempted to get in a deep breath. He tugged at his tie, loosening it at his neck. Only since being brought back to work after his extended leave had he decided to wear his tie the way he was expected to. He'd always been a bit of a rebel until his job had been taken from him. He'd realized then how badly he needed it. Now he was questioning that need. He was sweating heavily and he knew there was no way he could hide his anxiety if someone looked at him now so he just hoped to make it to his room before that happened. He felt something he didn't often experience. He felt sick to his stomach. Worse than that, he actually felt suddenly like tears were rushing to his eyes, and he hated it.

He managed to make it to his room without passing any employees. He was aware that even though he was in his personal room, and though he hadn't found evidence of cameras or microphones in there, there was no way to guarantee there was no surveillance so he had made an effort while in there not to do or say anything to make someone question how he was really feeling about being in the facility. He tried so hard in that moment. He pulled his tie from his neck fast when he'd shut the door behind him. His suit jacket was the next to go. He tried with shaking fingers to unbutton his dress shirt before finally just ripping it open, tearing off a few of the buttons. He barely heard them landing on the floor.

He paced around for a moment as he tried to keep breathing. The tears that had been rushing him in the hall finally broke free and began to wet his heated cheeks. He wiped at his face fast but the second he acknowledged his own emotional state he realized he was about to reach full-on break-down status. It had him retreating to the small bathroom. He shut himself inside of it and threw the taps on full-blast before he sat himself heavily on the closed lid of the toilet. The rushing water and his hands holding his face masked the sounds he couldn't contain while he cried.

The image of Strife being held against the bloodied floor, attempting to fight as he was being suffocated to death was burned into his mind. Even if Hojo was already convinced he'd made Cloud into some kind of immortal, he wasn't satisfied with the proof he already had. He needed to see Cloud's death revival again and again. It had been an agonizing week of torturous kills for Strife and also for anyone watching outside of Hojo and Galen perhaps. The two of them tended to joke about what went on in the lab. He'd been a part of it too, but it had been forced. It was all forced now.

He had been pretending nothing bothered him when in fact it was killing him inside. Strife's sounds of pain and the cries and groans that escaped him while he was on the verge of death had been chipping away at his sanity. He could hear the sounds even when he was alone in silence. When he would press his eyes shut and try to sleep with no success. It was different now than it had been in the lab in Nibelheim. He knew nothing of Cloud then. Nothing true anyway. He'd known for some time now that Strife was not the traitor he'd been made out to be. He wasn't a spy or a turncoat or a terrorist and he never had been. He'd been a young infantry soldier at the time of his capture and detainment in the Shinra Mansion, who hadn't been alive long enough to do more than make the wrong choice when it came to his career path.

Of course he felt some relief that Cloud had been reborn after each horrible death Hojo inflicted on him, but he couldn't help wishing just a little bit that he wouldn't wake up again. That he would just stop breathing and that his heart would stop beating and he would just be gone. For his sake.

Over the sound of the running taps next to him and through the closed bathroom door, he could hear a sudden loud banging on the door to his small suite and it had him jolting a little in surprise. He wiped away the tears on his face fast as he stood up. As he reached for the taps to shut them off he remembered he had torn off his shirt when he rushed into his room.

He cursed to himself as he fumbled around a moment, trying to decide if he should scramble to get another shirt on. More banging on his suite door was clearer with the water off and it sounded urgent so he grabbed a towel hanging on the nearby rack and threw it over his shoulder before leaving the bathroom to answer the door. He smoothed his hair with his hands and cleared his throat of emotion before finally opening the suite door. Galen stood on the other side of the door with an inquisitive gaze.

"What's up?" Reno asked him.

"What are you doing?" Galen questioned back.

"Just about to get in the shower actually," he replied.

"You couldn't wait until we were finished in the lab?" Galen said sharply.

"I…thought we were done in the lab," Reno answered slowly. It was starting to sink into him that something must have happened after he ran out.

Galen nodded. "So you weren't running out because you have some problem with what you saw happening in there?"

Reno scoffed. "No, man. Had to take a leak pretty bad. Thought we were done so I came back here. What's the deal?"

He was pretty sure he sounded convincing and maybe he was but regardless Galen still delivered a shocking reply.

"Hojo says to pack your bags."

"What?" Reno said back after a second of silence, trying to understand what was going on.

"Yeah, you're out of here," Galen told him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because you weren't present when you could have been of use," the assistant explained.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Reno responded fast.

"Hojo's going to be leaving within the hour to get X-rays on the mainland. The specimen attacked him," Galen said simply before he made a motion to walk away.

"W-wait!" Reno called to him as he stepped into the hall after him. "It's not up to him whether I stay here or not," he pointed out firmly. "Shinra sent me. I'm here on behalf of the president."

Galen turned back to face him, slipping his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. "I think we both know you're finished doing what you really came here to do. Either you found what you were looking for or you didn't."

Reno regarded him with a narrowed gaze. As far as Galen and Hojo and anyone else working there was concerned he was there to observe what went on and provide reports to Shinra. His actual mission had been to uncover whether or not Hojo had been paying people not approved for work by the company. Company money was going missing, or rather was being declared as payroll when that didn't match up to any known employee number. He'd been able to determine all but five employees in the facility were confirmed authorized employees. One or more of the five could be unauthorized but he hadn't been able to determine which one or ones they were. Rand and Galen were within that group.

Alternatively, the money may not have been going to anyone. One of the five might be a volunteer of sorts and the money might be pocketed by, say, Hojo. It was hard to know but he was a little surprised that Galen might be on to him.

"Right," he finally said in return. "Well until I get the call from head office, I'll be staying right where I am," he said with a practiced grin. Galen expression was hardened. He didn't reply to that before he motioned once more to walk away. "Hey!" Reno stopped him once more, making him look back but not turn around. "What happened to the specimen?"

"Guess you'd know if you'd been there," Galen tossed back at him casually before going on his way.

000

"What are you doing?!" Cloud yelled out in panic as his clothes were being ripped from his body in the middle of the hallway by the clone who had hold of him. There was no way to know what was coming but his mind went to the darkest possibilities. Where was he going? Down to Sephiroth's chambers again?

 _He said 'Darkroom,'_ he reminded himself. If Hojo had planned to send him downstairs to the monster's lair, surely the man would have said so, just to see the terror on his face.

He tried to fight the seizure of the fabric enrobing him but every movement was bordering on excruciating. Blood was dripping from his wounds, from his bleeding mouth. Deep bruising was already colouring his flesh in places unmarred when he woke up that morning. He'd made a big mistake. Why couldn't he have just let himself die? Just as he had in the days before.

Indeed, he had known when he'd recovered from his fatal stabbing and had seen the elation in Hojo that he was going to be fighting to get back to life again and again. And as far as he could tell, he had no choice in the matter. He discovered that after his third departure from the living world and brief return to the Lifestream.

Not even 24 hours had passed after he'd been put to death by knife and bled out on the exam table when he'd been forced from his cell back to the lab and locked into one of the testing cylinders. It was the first time he'd been put in one of those tubes since being recaptured by Hojo. The deep wounds in his torso had still been healing, rapidly, but regardless he found himself feeling the lingering pain and weakness from the blood loss. He wouldn't have been able to fight if he tried.

Terrified of what was to come he stood trembling, holding his arms around his body tightly and watching through the thick glass as Galen loaded a metal canister of something into a chamber at the side of the cylinder. Attached to the chamber was a long tube that he figured out soon enough fed into the cylinder. With the turn of a valve and a subtle hiss, whatever was in the canister started to flow into the space around him. It was mere seconds before he felt an intense stinging sensation in his eyes and mouth and almost as quickly he felt it in his lungs.

He thought at first it was mako. He knew he and Zack had been exposed to mako in vapour form in the past. This was different. His eyes seemed glued shut after the first touch of whatever it was. He was coughing and gagging immediately. He knew it had to be some form of toxic gas and whatever it was it started to feel like the tissue in his airway was burning away. He sank to the floor of the cylinder as he found himself unable to breathe. It was similar to but worse than drowning because of the intense burning pain and the panic-inducing taste of coppery foam in his mouth. It took only minutes for him to find himself lost in the Lifestream again.

He didn't see Angeal there that time, which had him doubting he'd ever encountered Zack's mentor to begin with. The words that Angeal had said though had stuck with him, and whether real or not it had him wondering if it was possible for him to find someone he'd lost and cared about. It had him wondering if he could find his mom. He only had a few strong and clear memories of her and somehow he had to use them to track her "energy."

He spent every minute he was in the Lifestream searching for her. Each time Hojo sent him there he searched. It was the literal light at the end of each excruciating death he endured. He'd bled and been suffocated to death multiple times. He'd drowned, been stabbed, poisoned, and after that he'd been shot, electrocuted, lethal injected, and strangled. Even though he'd eventually survived each event, the deaths were taking a toll on him in all respects. Even though he was breathing and conscious, his body still had to recover from the trauma he'd suffered but Hojo refused to give him the time he needed to fully repair himself. He was in pain and he was exhausted. Mentally, he was having a hard time keeping his thoughts straight, which had him breaking down emotionally. He hadn't really been combative while being murdered repeatedly, mostly because he hadn't been capable of it. He was weak and it felt like he was in some strange hazy dream most of the time he was awake, but he had started to feel that fire burning up from inside him as he was quickly being pushed to a breaking point.

He'd reached that point that morning which is what then led to him being stripped down in the hallway somewhere around the corner from the lab. The clones were supposed to beat him to death that morning in the lab. It was almost the worst death so far because it took so long and it was the first time that one of the deadly methods would be unsuccessful. Rather than being beaten to death, he'd been beaten unconscious. He wasn't sure how long he was out but guessed it was only a minute or two. When he came to and opened his eyes he found himself face down on the floor in the lab with something heavy holding him down. He was groggy and unable to really understand what was going on until something came down suddenly over his face, over his whole head. He realized what it was when he took in a breath and the plastic material of it clung to his skin, getting sucked toward his mouth and nose. What little oxygen had been available to him from inside what he knew was some sort of dark thick plastic bag—possibly a garbage bag—was quick to diminish.

He'd started to struggle, trying to reach for what was suffocating him but his arms had been restrained. One was trapped under his own body, locked there under the pressure of whatever or whoever was holding him down. The other was held hard to his own back. His struggling made the pain in his torso from the beating apparent but it was second to the panic he felt not being able to breathe. He tried bucking at what was holding him down and tried to squirm his way out from under it when that didn't work. Nothing worked. That's when a voice in him told him to stop fighting. It wasn't Jenova and it wasn't Seraph. It was just him. His own inner voice. His own instinct told him to fake death. He'd listened to it and gone limp slowly.

It had taken a moment for whoever was holding the bag over his head, tight at his neck, to release his hold and allow the bag to fall open and allow air into it. That moment was excruciating and once he'd felt cool air on the skin under his chin he'd had to control himself, to stop himself from inhaling so loudly it would be heard or seen under the material of the bag. He'd felt the weight bearing down on him being released slowly and knew then it must have been one of the clones who had been holding him. He'd thought he heard a door slam and then Hojo said something he couldn't make out. Whatever it was it was met with a light laugh from the assistants. He _was_ able to make out the professor commenting with Galen on how they could make money off spectators if this death game were like a public show. So his suffering was entertaining to them? It made him sick to think that in some way they were enjoying themselves at his expense.

That's what had lit his fuse suddenly and what had him attacking Hojo when he had the chance. The opportunity had presented itself as everyone in the lab assumed he was dead and left his body to lie in its own blood. The clones had left him there on the floor and left the lab, the assistants were prepping for clean-up and paid him no notice as he quietly lifted himself from the floor to his feet. His eyes were fixed on Hojo. The man's back was turned as he was using the nearby exam table as a surface to write his notes in his lab book on.

From the moment Cloud stood to the moment he had Hojo in his hands, it was something of a blur. His heart was beating so hard in his chest, his pulse racing so hard he swore he could feel it in his eyeballs. He kept expecting someone to see him. To yell out to warn Hojo but everyone was too engrossed in their duties. He wished he could remember what it felt like when he grasped hold of the man, every moment of what happened, but it was all so fast. With one hand on the back of the man's head, and one between his shoulders, he forced Hojo's head down hard and fast into the pages of his notebook, which only slightly deadened the sound of his face hitting the table. That, and Hojo's exclamation of surprise and pain alerted the staff to what was happening.

He couldn't recall hoisting the professor back from the table and turning him around to face him but what he did remember was shoving Hojo with so much rage the man was nearly lifted from his feet. Given the professor was the centre of most of his nightmares, he could seem a hundred feet tall and wide but as Cloud held onto his lab coat tight in his fists and threw him into the glass wall nearby that looked into his own cell he was reminded that Hojo was actually shorter than he was.

He could tell by the sound that the man let loose that he'd actually hurt him. Blood was already trailing from what was possibly a broken nose. Actual blood. The man was human on some level. It had felt good to Cloud. He'd wanted to cause that psycho pain on so many occasions. He'd wanted to see him scared. He did see that fear in his black eyes but it was so brief. His unrestrained moment was just that. Just a moment before he was being pulled back and away from the professor by multiple sets of hands.

Before being dragged away into the hallway, Hojo had delivered to him an earth-shattering threat—or rather what sounded like a promise.

"Thank you, C4, for giving me the reason I have been waiting for to finally bring Z1 in to join us! I relish the thought of punishing you through him. It'll be just like old times."

It was a declaration that had him screaming in protest, so loudly he barely heard Hojo's final instruction to his clones.

"The Darkroom!"

The Darkroom.

He had heard of them. The conventional ones. The ones meant for photography. Film is brought in and developed into pieces of art. Hardly anyone used them anymore. Maybe that's what this one was meant to do. Develop him into something else.

Or maybe it was purely to torture him.

It wasn't large enough to be considered a true _room_ , but it was dark. Completely. And he knew it was meant to be silent as well. Meant to be, yes, but for him it just made the whispering voices in his head so much louder. As far as he could tell he had no control over them. Sometimes when he pleaded for them to shut up they would listen but for the most part he felt like just a third party to whatever they had to talk about. It was annoying enough to make him want to beat his head against the wall. He couldn't do that either. Every square inch of the small space was padded. It might have been comfortable if it weren't for the fabric. He couldn't be sure of what it was but as he ran his hands over it slowly and picked at it with his fingers he thought it could be the hooked and scratchy part of Velcro. He'd been dumped in the room unclothed and with his wounds from his beating untreated. The pain he was in was considerable and yet it couldn't compare to what he felt emotionally.

Hojo had yelled at him that he was going to go after Zack. He was going to bring him to the facility. He'd really screwed up. He found himself breaking down when he was left alone in the Darkroom but it was for fear of Zack's safety, not his own. He tried immediately to connect and communicate with Zack, to warn him about Hojo, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't get past the voices, and what was worse was that he felt like Jenova might actually be blocking him somehow. Like somehow she kept hanging up the phone whenever he managed to get a call out to Zack. Panic and hopelessness began settling into him deeply. He might as well have signed Zack's death warrant. Not only that, but he'd put Aerith, Tifa, Johnny, and anyone else in proximity to Zack in danger as well.

 _Jenova…please_ , he begged, pleading for the parasite inside him to stop whatever it was she was doing to keep him and Zack from speaking to each other.

She wasn't having it. She wouldn't even acknowledge him directly, set instead on arguing in some language he couldn't understand with some other entity he couldn't really be sure was there. He could only guess that it had something to do with Seraph.

"I can't stay in here," he whispered to himself as he began pulling at the Velcro-like surface next to him, digging his fingertips into it and raking them back, feeling the scratchy sting of it in his skin. "I can't…I can't…I can't…" he chanted slowly, squeezing his eyes shut tightly and pulling at the fabric below him again and again. He repeated the words a hundred times over, focusing on them and trying to ignore the feeling of the skin of his fingers being scraped away.


	28. Chapter 28

~Twenty-Eight~

The sound of wild dogs off in the distance had Zack holding his breath a moment just to listen. The moon was large and full and brightened the sky and the ground around him. He thought back on some of those brighter nights when he'd been on the run with Cloud. When he thought about it now, those first nights after he'd escaped the mansion with his friend had been when he'd felt most free, setting aside his life before the mansion of course. Being out of Midgar now helped a little. He felt closer to Cloud. He and the others had left the city the day before and were taking the long drive down to Gongaga. They were going to be taking their convoy on a boat when they got further south. He was trying not to think about it. Being on the boat was no doubt going to give him some familiar feelings of being trapped.

"Here," Aerith said as she came to stand next to him and handed him a cup of fresh brewed tea.

"Thanks," he said back as he took it from her. "Could use something a little stronger though," he joked.

She smiled but she couldn't hide her concern. "You okay?" she asked and he nodded.

"Yeah." He looked down briefly before looking at her again. He took a moment to just take her in. It was a few seconds before she realized he was staring at her.

"What?" she asked then.

"You're just so beautiful," he said. "I forget to tell you sometimes."

She smiled again and her cheeks coloured a little to the compliment. "You remember that last time you came to visit me at the church all those years ago, before your mission to Nibelheim?" she said then.

"Of course," he agreed without really thinking back on what she was referring to. The mere mention of Nibelheim was enough to conjure up a thousand painful memories.

"You remember what you asked me?" she pressed.

"Umm…something about parachutes or…"

She slapped him lightly on the arm.

"Stop," she said and he laughed. "You asked me to come home to Gongaga with you."

He nodded, growing serious then. "I remember. I remember every word." He looked at her straight. "Sorry it took so long. Sorry it won't be the vacation I promised either," he spoke a little grimly.

"It's for family just the same," she pointed out.

"Right," Zack said softly. "Family."

Aerith could read on him where his thoughts went. "You haven't talked to them?" she questioned.

"My parents?" he asked back. "No. As far as they know I'm dead," he spoke bitterly.

"Maybe not," she argued gently.

"I saw a picture of them when I was in the mansion," he told her. "It was in a newspaper article about me and Cloud. Our funerals. Can you imagine what they must have gone through?"

She looked away, out to the dark horizon.

"You never know though, Zack," she said after a moment. "I mean, I never stopped believing you were alive and some mothers say they know when their child…"

She didn't finish but he knew where she was headed. "And regardless of what they believed," she went on, "they will know the truth soon enough."

He shook his head at that. "No they won't," he said firmly. "I don't want to involve them in this. It's too dangerous."

Aerith looked back at him in shock. "Zack, you can't just hide from them when you're there."

"Yes I can, and I'm going to," he said back fast.

"You know that's not fair. To them or you," she pointed out, earning a huff of annoyance from him. "You must want to see them," she said gently.

"Of course I do," he shot back at her.

"Well then—"

He opened his mouth to fire back but stopped, shutting his eyes and shaking his head. "I just can't."

"Why?" she asked. "It's okay to be afraid."

"Yeah, but I'm sick of it!" he said loudly.

"I'm sick of being scared all the time! Every goddamn night and day. And I'm scared I'm never going to feel any different the rest of my life."

She regarded him with clear sympathy. "You won't feel like that forever—" she tried to assure him.

"How do you know?" he replied quickly.

She shrugged lightly. "I just do," she told him. He shook his head and looked away from her. "Maybe you should talk to Cloud," she suggested. "It might make you feel a little better."

"I can't," he said quietly, still not looking at her.

"Right," she responded after a moment. "I'm going to go get some sleep," she told him before leaning in to kiss him gently on the cheek. "Don't stay up too late."

"Be in soon," he told her.

He let out a long sigh when she was gone. Truth was—and he hadn't told Aerith yet—but he'd tried to contact Cloud multiple times over the past few days. He'd had no success and though he tried to ignore it, in his gut he knew something had to be wrong.

000

It was an eerie kind of quiet in the facility as Reno walked the halls looking for signs of life. It was late but usually he'd have run into someone. The lab seemed to be the quietest place of all. There were no assistants. Hojo wasn't there of course and when he looked he could see that Cloud's cell was empty. It conjured up in him some not so crazy thoughts that maybe something outside the usual realm of terrible had happened to Cloud. If he really had attacked Hojo, who knows what the man had done in retaliation. There was no specific torture chamber in the facility to look in to find out. At least, not that he'd seen.

He didn't have access to the lower part of the facility and he had the feeling he wasn't supposed to know about it so he wasn't about to ask any questions. Instead, he did a little wandering down the half-lit halls of the metal beast to see what he could find. It took some searching but he finally found what he was looking for. He could hear voices coming from a room down the hall from the lab. He recognized one of the voices as belonging to Galen.

The door to the room was slightly open and he could just make out some computer equipment and someone else in the room with the lab assistant. Slowly he pushed the door open and Galen looked back to see who had come in. He looked back at him with clear irritation at seeing him.

"You're still here," he said before turning his attention back to what was going on in front of him. There was a monitor set up with feed from somewhere in the facility. The other person in the room, a guy Reno had seen but had never talked to, was looking at a second monitor and scrolling through was looked like some computer code.

"Where else would I be?" Reno snapped back at Galen.

"Anywhere else," the man retorted.

"If Hojo wants me out, he can take it up with Shinra," Reno told him, shoving his hands into his pockets as he leaned against the doorframe. He nodded to the screen showing who he assumed was Cloud wherever he'd been locked up.

"Is that him?" he asked and Galen looked at him again.

"The specimen?" he said and Reno nodded. "Yes," Galen confirmed.

"What's he doing?" Reno inquired next.

"Nothing. He fell asleep about a half hour ago," the assistant replied. The sound of a buzzer coming from a speaker on the desk and a red light on a control frame on the computer screen came on. Galen reached forward and using the mouse he clicked on something to silence the buzzing. "That's the third time," he remarked with clear irritation.

"I don't know what's causing it," the guy to his right commented.

"It's your system. Figure it out," Galen said back almost angrily.

"I'm just an operator," the guy told him.

"What's going on?" Reno asked, interrupting their exchange. When Galen didn't acknowledge his question the operator spoke.

"It's the electronic locking system. It's malfunctioning," he said. "It must be a code error."

"I don't care what it is," Galen told him. "Just fix it."

"Again, operator, not coder," the guy pointed out.

"So, what?" Reno spoke up again. "The door keeps unlocking?" he asked and the operator nodded. "But you can lock it again from here?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, "but seems like it only works for about ten minutes."

"So just move the specimen back to his cell," Reno suggested. He tried to sound like he was indifferent. Though he couldn't really tell by looking at the surveillance footage on the screen ahead of him, he was sure whatever place Cloud was being kept in probably wasn't pleasant.

"There's two people authorized to make that call and neither one is in this room," the lab assistant snapped back at him.

"Our technician's on the mainland until morning," the operator told him. "Your best bet is a padlock until then."

Galen shook his head. "No hasp on the door to put the lock on."

"There's a few down in Maintenance. I can screw one on tonight. It'll be kind of loud though…" He looked toward Cloud on the monitor as he spoke.

"It's fine. Nothing an injection won't help," Galen replied before he stood up and pushed his way passed Reno.

Reno stayed behind after the lab assistant and operator had departed. He watched the monitor for a little while. He watched Cloud's sleeping form, while the same plaguing thoughts ran through him. He had to ask himself a hundred times a day what he was doing in that facility. He had an official job but the real reason he'd accepted the job was to be of some kind of use and he didn't really feel useful. He felt like some kind of forced witness to what was going on down there. Like he was bearing his own punishment. But as bad as it was being there and having to watch the systematic destruction of Strife, he feared being told to leave and no longer being able to know.

Something changed on the screen ahead of him. Suddenly the room was being lit up and he could see the room and Cloud clearly. It was hard to make out the fine details of the room. It looked to be covered in a light coloured fabric. Light enough to show the spots of blood around him. He knew then that he must not have been treated after the beating he'd been given in the lab earlier. He saw Galen as he entered the room so the light must have come on automatically with the opening of the door. Cloud didn't move or stir from his position when the lab assistant approached him with a readied syringe.

Cloud did wake when he felt the sharp pinch of the needle somewhere in the back of his left thigh. He jerked his leg a little and was reminded immediately of the tormenting fabric his skin was pressed against. He let out a quiet sound before being still again. He opened his eyes a little but he was groggy having been pulled from the sleep he'd just barely managed to fall into less than an hour earlier. He saw that someone was in the room but didn't bother to try and figure out who it was. He knew that whoever it was, they'd just injected him with something and he hoped it was a sedative. A sedative would be a welcomed interference. It would take away everything. The pain, the voices in his head, the itching and prodding Velcro-like padding below him. He could just sleep.

He knew though, after just seconds that it wasn't the grace of a sedative he was feeling. It was something he remembered well from his imprisonment in the mansion. The devil that was a paralytic. The only thing it had in common with a sedative was that it stopped him from moving. Outside of that, there was nothing that linked them. The paralytic doesn't put you to sleep. It doesn't do anything for you other than take away your ability to move or breathe comfortably. It made the simple act of expanding your lungs difficult to do. Awake but trapped in your own immobile body.

He could hear that there was something going on near the door but it wasn't in his sightline. Still, he heard enough to know what was happening. Something was being drilled onto the door and from the talk he heard between what sounded like Galen and another person it was some kind of manual keyed lock. He couldn't come up with any reason why they would need to put one there. All the locks, as far as he could tell, were electronic and they seemed to work just fine. He wondered then if there was something wrong with the system.

Turning his thoughts back inward, he realized suddenly that Jenova had quieted. He didn't know if it had anything to do with the paralytic but he saw an opportunity and he took it, seeing it as maybe his only chance. He reached out for Zack. His friend wasn't hard to get to. It was like he was just waiting around the corner for him. Like he could turn around and he was just there. He was in his friend's deeply comforting hold but he almost fell backwards out of it as he was anxious to warn Zack about Hojo. Zack took hold of his arm and held him from falling downward.

"Spikey—" he said as he tried to pull Cloud back toward him. He seemed desperate too, like it had been just as hard on his end to get to him. Cloud was standing in front of him, facing him, but still he held onto Cloud's arms, afraid to let go.

"Just listen to me, Zack, I don't know how much time there is," Cloud told him fast.

"I've been trying to—" Zack started to reply by Cloud stopped him again.

"Hojo's coming after you!" he blurted loudly.

"What?" Zack asked, his face paling a little as he obviously let the thought of Hojo capturing him enter his mind and take hold.

"He's either coming to Midgar to find you or he's sending someone, you have to hide!" Cloud said with clear panic.

"Wait, just, what happened?" Zack asked as he shook his head and any hint of fear in his eyes disappeared.

"He wants to bring you here just to hurt you—" Cloud explained.

"Why?" Zack said back, though of course he knew Hojo didn't really need a reason necessarily.

Tears started to well in Cloud's eyes. "It's my fault," he said a little softer.

"It's _not_ your fault," Zack argued. He took a second to brush back some of his friend's hair that was falling into his eyes a little.

"Just get out of Midgar!" Cloud begged him as he pushed Zack's hand away from his hair.

"Okay, it's okay," Zack said in a reassuring tone. "I'm not in Midgar. We left yesterday."

There was a brief pause from Cloud as he took in his words. "You and Aerith?"

"Aerith, Johnny, Lazard, Rayna—" Zack started to list off.

"Rayna?"

"Not my choice," he said quickly. "She's with Six."

Cloud was a little shocked and confused at that. "With? Like…"

Zack inwardly groaned at the thought that they could be together on some level that wasn't professional. "God, I hope not for his sake," he commented. "I dunno, she's been working with him. She can hold her own in a fight, I'll give her that."

Cloud nodded as he took in everything Zack said. He felt the panic starting to ease away slowly. Zack could see it.

"It's okay," he assured him and Cloud wiped his eyes and face of any tears that were wetting them.

"So, you left Midgar?" he asked Zack and his friend confirmed.

"For Gongaga. I've been trying to let you know. We're coming for you, buddy," he said with a smile.

"No, I can't get out right now—" Cloud started to protest, thinking about where he was in that moment, in that awful room, paralyzed and possibly locked in by who knows what kind of system.

"No, not yet," Zack said. "We have a long trip and me and Six still have some details to work out. I'll let you know when we're ready and check in with you to make sure the time is right on your end. I'm trying to work out a plan for after. We'll need to get out of Gongaga pretty fast…"

"Where will we go?" Cloud asked, though he didn't really know why. Surely anywhere was better.

"Well…we'll figure out something, don't worry," Zack said. "Are you okay?" he asked and at his simple question, Cloud couldn't stop himself from tearing up again. "Buddy, it's okay. Tell me," Zack urged as he started to sit himself down. He held onto Cloud's one arm and pulled him down with him where they sat cross-legged in front of each other on the weird glassy invisible surface around them.

"I don't know," Cloud said as he repeatedly wiped at his face and tried to hold back the emotion that was trying to claw its way out of him. "I really don't know anymore. Things have gotten really weird. Hard to handle," he explained while looking anywhere but at Zack. He knew his concerned and sympathetic expression would only make it harder to keep from breaking down.

"What's the psycho got you doing?" Zack asked quietly after a moment.

"Nothing right now. I pissed him off," Cloud replied.

"Doesn't take much. What happened?"

"I lost it in the lab. Got my hands on him for a second."

"You hurt him?!" Zack blurted fast and Cloud nodded. "Spike, that's awesome!"

Cloud looked at him then. "It was stupid, Zack!" he argued. "What if he keeps me in here— I mean in some locker or something and I can't get out to you?"

"I told you we're going to shut down all the systems," Zack pointed out. "All the locks will be toast—"

"And what if the lock keeping me in is just an average padlock?" Cloud shot back at him, thinking about what kind of lock might actually be holding him in that room now. "Then what?" Zack just looked back at him, not knowing what to say and knowing he couldn't really argue. "I can't act out," Cloud concluded.

"Okay, I see your point," Zack replied. "It'll be alright," he assured his friend. "You know Hojo. He'll have a tantrum and then he'll get over it. He needs you, right?" he suggested. It was sad but true. "We're so close," Zack told him hopefully. "So close to getting you out of there. Just hang on a little longer, okay? It's just a matter of days now. Just a few more days. You have to be strong though when it happens. As strong and as ready as you can be."

Cloud thought about it. Days? Could it be true? Was he only days from freedom?

"Okay," he spoke quietly, his head down.

"Hey," Zack said, reaching to clasp the back of his friend's neck and rubbing it reassuringly, urging Cloud to look at him.

Cloud did so reluctantly, meeting Zack's eyes and finally mirroring the nod that his friend gave him. "Okay," he repeated, taking the moment to accept what Zack was telling him was true. He knew it was. He could see it in Zack's eyes. He was going to get him out. Suddenly, he felt he needed to tell Zack about the Lifestream. "Zack," he started, thinking about Angeal and how the man—or whatever he was now—had thought he'd been Zack. Thinking of how disappointed he was when he realized he wasn't Zack. Thinking of how much Angeal had meant to Zack and still meant to him…

"What is it, buddy?" Zack asked him when he paused.

"I…"

The words wouldn't come. He couldn't say them now. He would wait until he saw Zack in person. "I just can't wait to see you," he said instead, earning him a smile from Zack who reached forward to hug him.

000

There's a specific sound the cap of a liquor bottle can make when it's being twisted open for the first time. The perforations snap open and allow the cap to be unscrewed and the drinker access to what's inside. Reno couldn't stop thinking of that sound as he sat alone in his suite. It was the middle of the night. The facility was silent except for the few mechanical sounds here and there and the subtle swish that his phone made as he spun it on the coffee table in front of him. He had thoughts on his mind. Treasonous thoughts. He couldn't help but think that this must have been how Tseng felt when he made choices that went against orders. Sure he'd made those choices himself before but he'd had the feeling at the time that they were the right choices in the moment. He didn't know now if what he wanted to do was right or wrong. If there even was a right and wrong in this situation. All he knew was that he couldn't sleep and though insomnia in that facility seemed normal for him, he could usually accomplish a few hours, just from pure mental exhaustion. Now, though, it was different. He was anxious, and feeling a need like he hadn't had in months to get his hands on some sort of alcohol. He couldn't stop thinking of Strife lying alone in agony awaiting his next death. Hojo had made no indications he planned on giving up that game. That's what it felt like. A game. Killing Cloud had become some kind of demented sport.

Things hadn't been easy in the facility, there was no denying that, but the experimentation on Strife this time around had been different. It was a program. A carefully carried out program that had nothing to do with fun and everything to do with some sort of financial and political goal, though he wasn't sure what that was yet. That had changed recently. Since Cloud's escape attempt and his initial revival from death by drowning there was disorganization. It was like it used to be in the mansion. It was like it was before Rand.

He knew very little about the man who called himself a Keeper. Only that Hojo or the company—he wasn't sure exactly who was responsible—had hired him for the specific purpose of conditioning Strife. The facility may not have been Rand's, but the system that had been put in place, the rules and routine, those seemed to have been Rand's ideas. He'd been hired to get results from Strife and he had, so far. But he wasn't in the facility anymore. He'd been absent since the evening after Strife's escape and no one had spoken of why. It had Reno wondering though. Perhaps he'd been fired. Hojo blamed him for Cloud's escape and death. But the results Rand had gotten from the "specimen" had been favorable as far as he could tell. One mistake hardly seemed like grounds for dismissal or something worse.

What Reno knew for sure was that things seemed better when the man had been there, running things his way and it had him fighting an overwhelming urge to try and contact him. Having Rand in the facility wasn't a winning situation either. Not for Cloud. Short-term, maybe it was. He might convince the professor to put an end to the game that had gone on without him. But his ultimate goal was to condition Strife in to what Reno could imagine was some sort of unstoppable weapon. A killing machine. From what Reno saw in the past being a member of the Turks, that was always the goal. A soldier better than all the rest. Bullet and bomb proof. Indiscriminate in killing ability. Strife may have been half-way there. Rand wanted to facilitate that transformation. He could destroy Cloud just like Hojo.

He released a long sigh as he let his phone spin to a stop. He came to a stand, rubbing his face in frustration as he began pacing slowly, like he had so many times before. He wished he could talk to Rude or Tseng about what he was thinking. After a minute, he flopped himself back down on the couch and laid on his back with his eyes closed. He draped his arm over his face and took some deep breaths, trying to clear his mind. It seemed to work. As he let himself relax and focused only on his breath he started to feel his body sinking more into the couch cushions and his brain taking a slow crawl toward sleep.

He had just started to fall asleep when he felt a sudden cold sensation on his arm. He felt it like something was gripping it. No, it was like _someone_ was gripping it. An icy cold hand was locked around his forearm and had him lowering it from his face fast. He looked up and over him he saw Cloud's colorless face looking back at him. The way he'd looked when he'd been lying on the autopsy table in Hojo's lab after he'd drowned days ago. It had his heart jumping to his throat and he bolted upright only to realize he had just imagined what'd he'd seen and felt.

"Shit," he muttered to himself as he set his feet back down on the floor and he rubbed some sweat from his face. He looked again at his phone sitting on the table. "Damn it" he said as he gave in and reached for it. He had to help Strife. He had no choice.


	29. Chapter 29

~Twenty-Nine~

The brief meeting he'd had with Cloud kept Zack up all night. He lay next to Aerith with his eyes shut but he never even drew close to sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about what Cloud had warned him of. That Hojo was coming after him. He'd lived with the fear of knowing the professor was after him when he'd escaped the mansion with Cloud. He'd lived with that fear for months, until it was clear that the man was no longer after him. He hated to admit it but a part of him had been relieved to know the monster had no want for him anymore. And now that relief was replaced once more with fear. A little of it was fear for himself but it made him more afraid for Cloud. He hadn't really considered the full weight of what Cloud had told him until he was lying awake unable to rest.

Hojo was the farthest thing from forgiving. He was vengeful and loved to dole out punishment when he felt it was warranted. The angrier he was, the more sadistic the punishment. He pondered over the likelihood that Hojo was actually searching for him so that he could be used against Cloud as punishment. Would the man actually go to such great lengths? It was possible if Cloud really had done when he said. If there was one thing Hojo hated above all else, it was fear. His own fear. And the quickest way to unleash wrath from inside the man was to take away his sense of power and make him feel that kind of emotion.

If it was true that Cloud had gotten a hold of him and actually hurt him then Hojo must be furious. Zack had seen him in that state before. Back in the mansion on one of the occasions he'd tried to escape with Cloud, he'd attempted to get his hands on the professor and give him a little taste of pain. He hadn't managed it but he and Cloud did get pretty close to freedom. As punishment, Hojo had chained them separately in cold dark prison cells, but not before he had tortured Cloud by removing his fingernails with a pair of pliers, recording his screams so that he could play them for Zack later. Again and again and again. He could never forget those sounds.

So it wasn't hard to imagine that Hojo could be so fueled with anger that he would go searching for Zack in Midgar, just so he could be used as a tool against Cloud. Hojo had played that game with them so many times in the mansion. He used them to hurt each other. But what would happen when he realized Zack was nowhere to be found?

"Aerith," Zack said just above a whisper. He opened his eyes and turned himself over to face her. He said her name again a little louder and she hummed in acknowledgement as she finally woke.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"I need to tell you something," he told her and she was immediately alert. "I wasn't going to. I didn't want you to worry but…"

"What is it?" she questioned softly.

"I saw Cloud on the plane tonight. He told me that Hojo is on his way to Midgar. He told Cloud he was coming after me," he revealed.

"What?" Aerith said as she sat herself up next to him.

"I just needed you to know because you have to know the kind of danger that I put you and the others in—" he started to explain and she huffed in clear annoyance.

"Zack, you have to believe me when I say I'm done with this conversation on how you're so dangerous for me to be around," she said almost angrily. It actually took him off guard a little. "Do you honestly think it was so safe for me to date you when you were in SOLDIER? Or have you ever thought that there's a chance I'm not the safest person to be around either?"

He sat himself up at that. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked her, immediately confused by the suggestion. She shook her head a little.

"I just don't want to hear it anymore. I know who I fell in love with and who I'm still in love with," she told him. "I'm not a flower you have to worry about trampling. I've told you before that the only way being with you can hurt me is if you push me away."

"That's not what I'm doing," he promised her as he looked straight into her eyes. "I just need you to know what's at stake because I think we need to move faster on getting Cloud out of that facility." He watched her expression soften a bit but she clearly had questions. "Cloud managed to injure that psychopath. That's why he's heading to Midgar to find me. Maybe he's already there now."

"He wants to use you to hurt him back," Aerith said in understanding and Zack nodded.

"When he realizes I'm not there he's probably going to know why. That I'm actually planning something."

"He has to know that already though, right? How could he not already assume that?" she pointed out.

"That's true I suppose," he agreed. "But regardless, Hojo's going to punish Cloud for what he did and it's going to be bad. I'm just afraid that if we don't get Cloud out now, before he gets back to that facility that we're never going to get the chance again."

"But—" Aerith started say something he was sure would be logical and reassuring but it would be pointless.

"I just know it, Aerith," he said fast. "This has to be the time." He could see then that she was accepting of what he was saying.

"We still have to get there first," she told him.

"We'll be there tomorrow night. Johnny's guy is already set up to immobilize the facility's security system. We've got the maps of the island—"

"But not the boat or clearance to get it to the island launch," she reminded him. "Even if Cloud gets outside, how are you going to get to him?" she asked

Zack thought about it a moment before shaking his head. "He'll just have to jump."

"Jump," she repeated.

"If he jumps into the water and swims we can pick him up," he told her. "We'll find a boat when we get there."

She nodded. "And then what?" she asked.

"We go. And we fight anyone who tries to stop us. There's a way to end all of this," he said hopefully. "There has to be."

000

Though he had no reason to do so, Reno set his alarm for early the next morning. He showered and dressed himself as he would any other day that he was supposed to be working. He committed himself to the routine even if it didn't matter. Things were in a kind of limbo without Hojo or Rand around to run things. Outside of some general experiments going on in some of the labs, there was nothing happening in the facility. Cloud was still in Hojo's darkroom with Galen keeping watch of him, as pointless a task as that was. The quiet was simply the calm before the storm. When Hojo returned from the mainland where he was receiving medical treatment, there was no telling what he was going to do to Strife. Reno hoped his efforts to thwart the possible punishment to come would not be in vain. He couldn't help but feel some relief when Rand arrived back at the facility around mid-day. He'd had some doubts the Keeper would return even after their conversation on the phone the day before. When he'd told Rand what had been happening to Cloud in the past few days, the man agreed to return within twenty-four hours but there'd been no way to know for sure if that would happen.

When Rand arrived back at the facility, he went first to his office where he viewed some of the recent surveillance footage from the lab when Cloud had been pulled from his cell to be assaulted in various ways. It was remarkable as much as it was horrible to see someone be put to death repeatedly. It was nothing he'd ever expected to see during the course of the project and it was something he couldn't explain with any of the wealth of knowledge he had. He just knew something about it made him uncomfortable.

"Where is he?" he asked Galen when he found him. He could tell he startled the man a little by the way his shoulders jerked upon hearing a voice from behind him. Galen turned in his chair to look at him.

"Hojo?" he said in question. "Away in Midgar for the next week."

Rand shook his head. "C4," he clarified.

"Over here," Galen directed as he pointed him to a monitor in the room. He switched its channel from surveillance feed from one of the halls in the facility to feed from a room Rand couldn't identify at first because it was pitch black. At least he assumed that's the reason why he was looking at the rough shape of a living thing displayed in varying heat signature colours.

"That's him?" Rand asked.

Galen nodded before he switched channels to a separate camera feed and used a remote to illuminate the room. It must have been a very dim illumination because the feed was coming from a night vision lens. C4 was more clearly visible then, unclothed and lying curled into the one corner or the room with his face buried into his arms. He seemed to flinch in response to the light.

"Where is that?"

"Just down the hall," Galen told him.

" _What_ is it?" Rand asked next, though he already suspected he knew.

"What it looks like," Galen replied.

It looked like a room constructed for the sole purpose of depriving the senses of anything going on outside of it.

"Why?"

"Hojo's choice," Galen said. "C4 was combative."

"Combative," Rand spoke back fast. "In response to being pushed to the brink of death repeatedly. Is that not an expected reaction?"

Galen smirked in response to that. "Sure. But Hojo really doesn't like being hit by his specimens."

The explanation earned a short hum in acknowledgement from Rand. He hadn't seen that part of the recorded footage from the lab though Reno had mentioned the incident on the phone when he'd spoken to him the night before.

"How long's he been in there?" Rand asked after a moment of staring at the monitor ahead of him.

"Not long. Just over twenty-four hours," Galen told him.

"Long enough," the Keeper stated.

"I agree," Galen said. "It's not aiding the project any."

Cloud was still hiding his face the best he could from the light that had come on suddenly in the room. He didn't know what had prompted it after hours of only darkness but what he did know what that it made him acutely aware once more of the pain that came with lying on the rough padded surface around him. Every inch of the floor and walls was covered in it. There was no getting away from it and it was maddening. He even tried to pull it up from the floor, to rip it away like carpeting but it proved impossible. He'd only succeeded in doing more damage to the skin of his fingers.

He lifted his head to look toward the doorway when he heard the lock being opened on the outside. As the door opened, a sudden shock of hope hit his heart, like somehow it was all over. The facility had been abandoned by the staff, maybe because of some catastrophe, and it was Zack who'd come to get him out. And in that moment he swore it was Zack who was looking back at him, so much so he almost cried his name out to him.

His saviour spoke first.

"C4."

And with that simple address, his hope was extinguished once more. It was Rand.

"Come on," the Keeper said softly as he approached him.

"Didn't think you'd be back," he said to Rand as the man placed a blanket over him and gently urged him to a standing position.

"I had doubts myself," Rand told him honestly.

"You didn't get fired because of me?" Cloud asked him when they were outside in the hall.

"Some contracts aren't so easy to terminate," Rand said but the words only confused Cloud. "You won't have to see that room again," the man promised him but it did little to ease his mind. He knew Hojo had only ordered him there until he'd decided on his actual punishment. As awful as the room had been, he knew it was child's play compared to what had to be coming. He'd put his hands on the professor. He'd made him bleed, inflicted pain on him. Hojo had sent him to Sephiroth for simply refusing to participate in his program he'd set in place. He'd left him there to be beaten and raped repeatedly and he threatened to do it again if he wasn't complicit in the future. What was the man going to do to him now? Especially when he realized Zack was nowhere to be found in Midgar. That was one thing to be happy for though. At least his friends wouldn't be used against him as long as the professor didn't know where they were.

"You don't know what he'll do when he gets back," he said to the Keeper.

"I suspect you've seen the worst of it," Rand told him as they were nearing his cell. He spoke reassuringly but it had no effect.

"There's always worse with him," Cloud argued.

"Well, you're in my care, not his, at least for the next few days," Rand said as they reached his cell. "I'll have the doctor come down to see you after you've had a chance to clean up a little. Then you can get some rest."

Cloud gave a small nod in return before he stepped into his cell. "Rand," he said then and the Keeper paused with the door in his hand, ready to shut it. "Sorry I hit you," he said.

"Apology accepted," Rand said. He smiled a little before finally closing the cell door.


End file.
